Facts and FIgures Page 3

Animas River Trail | Photo by Cindy Barks

Colorado’s Animas River Trail

Posted 11/08/17 by Cindy Barks in America's Trails, Health and Wellness | Tagged with Best Of, Colorado, Demand for Trails, Facts and FIgures, Funding, Health and Active Living, Rail-with-Trail, Tourism , Tourism and Economic Development, Tourism and Economic Stimulus, Trail Businesses, Trail Communities, Trail of the Month, Walkability and Bikeability

Trains and trails: In Durango, Colorado, the two are inseparable. For walkers and bicyclists along the town’s scenic Animas River Trail, the white-and-gray plumes of steam rising from the old locomotives and the echo of train whistles are common sights and sounds.

Milwaukee Skyline | Photo courtesy iStock by Getty Images

A Plan for the Route of the Badger to Reconnect Milwaukee

Posted 08/28/17 by Willie Karidis in America's Trails, Building Trails | Tagged with Case Studies, Design Strategies, Equity, Facts and FIgures, Walkability and Bikeability, Wisconsin

Southeast Wisconsin has more than 340 miles of world-class trails and the potential for incredible low-stress bicycling routes, but the honest assessment of access to many of those trails is a story of inequality.

New River Trail State Park, Virginia | Photo by Tom Bilcze

Moving the Dial: RTC Celebrates 30 Years of Impact

Posted 08/15/17 by Brandi Horton in America's Trails, Building Trails, Success Stories, Policy, Taking Action | Tagged with Best Of, Case Studies, Facts and FIgures, RTC in Action, Success Stories, Walkability and Bikeability, Why Use Trails?

For three decades, we have served as the national voice for trails, establishing a movement and setting the precedent that rail-trails are need-to-have community assets. As we build momentum, it’s a great time to pause and reflect on our achievements—and those of the rail-trail movement—summarized in RTC’s recently released 2016 Annual Report.

Schuylkill Banks River Trail (part of the Circuit Trails network) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | Photo by Laura Pedrick/AP Images

What Tops the Charts in Trail Use? Here Are Our 2016 Survey Results.

Posted 09/16/16 by Ben Carter in Trail Use | Tagged with Demand for Trails, Facts and FIgures

In August 2016, we asked our awesome members and supporters via our 2016 Trail Survey about their best (and least) trail use habits and received an overwhelming response with approximately 54,000 completed surveys. Here's what they said!

Boundary Bay Park in Tsawwassen, south of Vancouver, British Columbia | Photo courtesy Gord McKenna | CC by 2.0

CDC Says Few Older Adults Get Enough Physical Activity. Trails Can Help.

Posted 09/15/16 by Ashley Ashworth in Health and Wellness, Policy | Tagged with Facts and FIgures, Health and Active Living, Health Organizations, Healthy Aging, Transportation and Health, Why Use Trails?

In its report released today, Physical Activity Among Adults Aged 50 Years and Older, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shared some troubling news: more than one in four older Americans are physically inactivity and only 20 percent meet physical activity guidelines. But here’s the good news: Physical activity can help manage the most prevalent chronic conditions, and trails provide the perfect low-stress environments in which to be active.

Sacramento River Trail | Photo courtesy Sergio Ruiz | CC by 2.0

Tracking Federal Bike/Ped Spending in 2015: RTC Releases TrADE Report

Posted 07/26/16 by Leeann Sinpatanasakul in Building Trails, Policy | Tagged with Facts and FIgures, Federal, Funding, Recreational Trails Program, State and Federal Programs, Transportation Alternatives, Transportation and Health

The Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP)—known as Transportation Enhancements (TE) until 2012—is the largest federal source of funding for walking and biking projects and has helped to build thousands of trails across America since 1991. Here's the latest spending report on this critical program for the rail-trail movement.

Ed Rasbach of West Chester, Pennsylvania, and his two dogs, on the Merchantville Bike Path | Photo by Laura Pedrick/AP Images

How Did 9,000 Trail Users Impact Northeast Communities? We Found Out.

Posted 05/12/16 by Liz Sewell in Trail Use, Success Stories | Tagged with Facts and FIgures, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Tourism , Tourism and Economic Development

Over the past 10 years, RTC has implemented 20-plus rail-trail surveys in Pennsylvania and New Jersey to determine just how much of an impact trail users have had on the region. These infographics, which are aggregates of data from more than 9,000 surveys, convey the power of local northeast pathways on tourism, health and physical activity.

Photo © Ed Yourdon

RTC Launches Development of Game-Changing Trail Planning Tool

Posted 06/12/14 by Tracy Hadden Loh in Building Trails | Tagged with Case Studies, Connected Systems, Facts and FIgures, Mapping and Technology, RTC in Action

Earlier this month, RTC announced the launch of T-MAP (Trail Modeling and Assessment Platform), a three-year, $1.2-million initiative with the potential to set a new standard for trail planning in America. In partnership with researchers and trail managers in 12 U.S. cities, RTC will lead the first-ever nationwide survey of urban trail use and produce planning models and metrics that can forecast the returns on investment that trails stimulate around the country.

Photos © Rick Pruetz

The Profitable Tail of the Silver Comet Trail

Posted 05/07/14 by Rick Pruetz in America's Trails, Trail Use, Success Stories | Tagged with Case Studies, Facts and FIgures, Georgia, Tourism and Economic Stimulus, Trail Businesses

A 2013 study by the Northwest Georgia Regional Planning Commission recommends more than doubling the length of the Silver Comet Trail —at its “tail” end—with spurs to nearby commercial centers and longer extensions to Marietta, Rome and Atlanta’s growing bike-path network.