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Eight Critical Wins for TrailNation in 2018

Posted 12/05/18 by Liz Thorstensen in America's Trails, Building Trails, Success Stories | Tagged with Baltimore Greenway Trails Coalition, Best Of, Biking, California, Capital Trails Coalition, Circuit Trails, Connected Systems, Demand for Trails, Encouraging Trail Use, Facts and FIgures, Florida, Funding, Health and Active Living, Health Organizations, IHTC, Local Organizing, LowerRioGrande, Mapping and Technology, Maryland, Miami LOOP, New Jersey, Route of the Badger, Tourism , Tourism and Economic Development, Tourism and Economic Stimulus, Trail Businesses, Trail Communities, Trail Destinations, TrailNation, Transportation and Health, Urban Pathways, Virginia, Walkability and Bikeability, West Virginia, Wisconsin

Baltimore, Maryland | Photo by Side A Photography

This past year, RTC worked with hundreds of partners across TrailNation to secure funding, provide technical expertise and generate public support for trail networks that are proving vital to the people and places they serve. Here is a spotlight on some of the critical project advances we made in 2018—and how they are bringing to life our vision of trails at the heart of healthy, thriving communities.

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Prescribe-a-Trail walkers at Valley Forge National Historical Park | Photo by Roy Perry

Prescribe-a-Trail: Walking to Happier and Healthier Lifestyles in Greater Philly

Posted 11/07/18 by Molly Duffy in Health and Wellness, Trail Use, America's Trails | Tagged with Circuit Trails, Community Events, Encouraging Trail Use, Featured Magazine Articles, Health and Active Living, Health Organizations, Healthy Aging, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, TrailNation, Transportation and Health, Walkability and Bikeability

Since 2015, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy has been connecting hundreds of walkers in Pennsylvania and New Jersey to healthier lifestyles through Prescribe-a-Trail (PAT), a program in which Philadelphia-area hospitals and health-care organizations lead outings on local trails along the Circuit Trails network (an RTC TrailNation™ project) to promote exercise, good nutrition and healthy lifestyles.

Kinzua Bridge Skywalk | Photo by Anthony Le, courtesy Rails-to-Trails Conservancy

Nine Can’t-Miss Moments from Our Guidebook Mapping Trips!

Posted 08/29/18 by Suzanne Matyas in America's Trails | Tagged with Best Of, Biking, Encouraging Trail Use, Gear, Health and Active Living, History Happened Here, Mapping and Technology, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, RTC in Action, Tourism , Tourism and Economic Development, Tourism and Economic Stimulus, Trail Businesses, Trail Communities, Trail Destinations, Transportation and Health, Walkability and Bikeability, Why Use Trails?, Wild and Wonderful

We here at Rails-to-Trails Conservancy are a lucky bunch. Not only do we get to spend our days blazing the way for built and budding trails across the country, but, for a few weeks every summer, we also get to explore and map trails for our regional guidebooks.

Delaware River Trail | Photo by Laura Stark

Find the Fun with a Scavenger Hunt on Greater Philadelphia’s Circuit Trails

Posted 07/27/18 by Laura Stark in America's Trails, Trail Use | Tagged with Circuit Trails, Community Events, Connected Systems, Encouraging Trail Use, Health and Active Living, History Happened Here, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Tourism , Tourism and Economic Development, Tourism and Economic Stimulus, Trail Businesses, Trail Destinations, Trail Use Tips, Transportation and Health, Urban Pathways, Walkability and Bikeability, Why Use Trails?, Wild and Wonderful

Walking, bicycling, skating, wildlife viewing—these are all the usual suspects of trail use, but this summer, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy and our friends with the Circuit Trails are challenging visitors and residents in the Greater Philadelphia region to add another fun activity to the list: scavenger hunting! The Circuit Trails Scavenger Hunt, running now through Sept. 22, provides the perfect opportunity to revisit some favorite spots or explore new ones on the ever-expanding 300-miles-plus trail system throughout Philadelphia, and Camden, New Jersey.

San Francisco Bay Trail in California | Photo by Cindy Barks

These Eight Trail Networks Are Connecting Millions of Americans

Posted 12/06/17 by Amy Kapp, Laura Stark in Building Trails, America's Trails | Tagged with Baltimore Greenway Trails Coalition, BATC, Best Of, California, Capital Trails Coalition, Circuit Trails, Connected Systems, Disparities and Underserved Communities, Ecology and Environment, Facts and FIgures, History Happened Here, IHTC, LowerRioGrande, Maryland, Miami LOOP, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Route of the Badger, RTC in Action, Texas, Tourism and Economic Development, Tourism and Economic Stimulus, Trail Businesses, Trail Communities, Trail Destinations, TrailNation, Walkability and Bikeability, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Young Champions

In eight diverse areas across the country, through our TrailNation™ program, RTC is investing in projects that demonstrate what’s possible when trails are seamlessly linked together to form complete systems that are well integrated into the communities they serve—providing low-stress, high-quality and environmentally friendly transportation and recreation for all.

Tampa Riverwalk, funded by a TIGER grant | Photo courtesy Matthew Paulson | CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

How Funding for Trails Moves America: 5 Trails Funded by TIGER

Posted 08/22/17 by Leeann Sinpatanasakul in America's Trails, Success Stories, Policy | Tagged with Arkansas, Case Studies, District Of Columbia, Federal, Funding, Georgia, Indiana, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Private Fundraising, State and Federal Programs, Success Stories, Trail Destinations

The federal TIGER program has funded more than $340 million in projects for trails, walking and biking to date—making it a powerful resource for those who want to create multimodal transportation choices in their communities for those who cannot or choose not to drive. Through the leveraging of additional federal, state, local and even private philanthropic sources, the highly competitive program (which also funds highway, freight rail, transit and maritime projects) promotes interplay between all levels of government and the private sector and strikes a good deal for federal transportation investments.

The bike- and pedestrian-friendly Route 52 bridge plays a key role in the region’s growing trail network. | Photo courtesy South Jersey Transportation Planning Organization

New Jersey’s Cape May County Trail Network

Posted 08/01/17 by Laura Stark in America's Trails, Trail Use | Tagged with Connected Systems, District Of Columbia, Featured Magazine Articles, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Trail Destinations

South New Jersey’s Cape May County offers an outdoor recreation mecca within easy driving distance of Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore and Washington, D.C.

Trails are a great place to spy a variety of beautiful birds, including the bald eagle! | Photo courtesy Boyd Dwyer | CC BY-SA 2.0

Nine Great Birding Rail-Trails to Crow About

Posted 05/15/17 by Suzanne Matyas in America's Trails, Trail Use | Tagged with Best Of, California, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Montana, New Jersey, North Carolina, Texas, Trail Destinations, Wild and Wonderful, Wisconsin

Whether you’re an avian aficionado, ornithologist, fan of fowl or simply a person who enjoys the subtle sight of a feather stretching across the wind, you’ll want to check out these nine great birding trails!

Rutgers-Camden IGNITE student participants on their 2017 inaugural "new bike" ride on the Camden GreenWay | Photo by Anya Saretzky/ RTC

New Fleet of Bikes IGNITES Trail-Inspired Youth in Camden, New Jersey

Posted 05/04/17 by Anya Saretzky in America's Trails, Trail Use | Tagged with Circuit Trails, Encouraging Trail Use, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Schools and Young People

On April 27 at Holy Name School in Camden, New Jersey, eight fifth- through eighth-graders enthusiastically greeted their new Fuji hybrid bikes as part of the Rutger-Camden IGNITE afterschool cycling program.

RTC Youth Sojourn participants cross the Ben Franklin Bridge between Philadelphia and Camden, New Jersey, on the Circuit Trails network. | Photo by Blake Rubin

23 Youth Tackle 170-Mile Watershed Sojourn in Pennsylvania and New Jersey

Posted 09/01/16 by Anya Saretzky in Health and Wellness, Success Stories | Tagged with Circuit Trails, Community Events, Connected Systems, Ecology and Environment, Encouraging Trail Use, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Schools and Young People, Young Champions

As a culmination of our summer youth programming in the Greater Philadelphia Area, RTC brought 23 young people together this August for our second annual Youth Sojourn—a five-day bike ride over 170 miles of Circuit Trails in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Led by RTC Youth Engagement Coordinator Jolie Chylack and several Youth Leaders, the sojourn capped off a great summer of watershed health education programming.

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.

Schuylkill Banks Boardwalk, part of the 750-mile Circuit Trails network | Photo by Thom Carroll

The Circuit Trails: 750-Mile Network Has Sparked a Greater Philly Transformation

Posted 04/12/16 by Heather Mistretta in Building Trails, America's Trails | Tagged with Celebrating 30 Years, Circuit Trails, Connected Systems, Demand for Trails, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Trail Destinations

For the past five years, a web of approximately 30 multi-use pathways known as the Circuit Trails has been growing throughout the Greater Philadelphia area, with long-term plans to stretch 750 miles across nine counties. Currently at 300 miles, the Circuit Trails is like no other system in the country—connecting urban, suburban and rural communities in a 2.5-million-acre area. By the time it is complete, which is expected to be in 2040, more than 50 percent of the region’s population will live within a mile of the Circuit Trails. Additionally, the system will connect to the East Coast Greenway, enveloping a 3,000-mile off-road route that spans as far north as Calais, Maine, and as far south as Key West, Florida.