Walkability and Bikeability

Here Is Some Inspiration to Keep Up or Create Your #TrailMoments Momentum!

Posted 10/14/21 by Suzanne Matyas in Trail Use | Tagged with Encouraging Trail Use, Health and Active Living, How-to, Trail Moments, Walkability and Bikeability, Why Use Trails?

Left to Right: Waides Ashmon III, Ashley Jones, MaShant Ashmon, Ian Mackay and Vasu Sojitraa | Graphic by RTC

We all know how difficult it can be to create or maintain healthy habits! That’s why the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy team launched our #TrailMoments 21-Day Challenge—so an entire community could band together and keep each other motivated.

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Left to Right: Waides Ashmon III, Ashley Jones, MaShant Ashmon, Ian Mackay and Vasu Sojitraa | Graphic by RTC

Here Is Some Inspiration to Keep Up or Create Your #TrailMoments Momentum!

Posted 10/14/21 by Suzanne Matyas in Trail Use | Tagged with Encouraging Trail Use, Health and Active Living, How-to, Trail Moments, Walkability and Bikeability, Why Use Trails?

We all know how difficult it can be to create or maintain healthy habits! That’s why the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy team launched our #TrailMoments 21-Day Challenge—so an entire community could band together and keep each other motivated.

Met Branch Trail | Photo by India Kea

Reimagining Public Spaces

Posted 10/12/21 by Ryan Chao in America's Trails | Tagged with COVID-19, Demand for Trails, Featured Magazine Articles, Health and Active Living, Mode Shift, Route of the Badger, Trail Moments, TrailNation, Walkability and Bikeability, Why Use Trails?

Last year, when the team at Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (RTC) was elbow deep in defining the elements of our next strategic plan, a global pandemic had upended the world, and calls for justice were bringing focus to the deep and far-reaching impact of racial inequities. In that moment, we explored the strengths of our movement, our role in bringing solutions to these significant social challenges and the opportunities ahead. What we found captured our imagination and brought reason for hope.

Oklahoma River Trails | Courtesy Oklahoma City Community Foundation

Oklahoma’s Oklahoma River Trails

Posted 10/06/21 by Amy Grisak in America's Trails, Health and Wellness | Tagged with Health and Active Living, Oklahoma, Trail Destinations, Trail of the Month, Walkability and Bikeability

Despite the city’s sprawling nature and 680,000 residents, it has a small-town feel, partly due to roughly 90 miles of trails through 10 connected routes. These routes, including the well-loved Oklahoma River Trails, bring people to the neighborhoods, parks, world-class attractions and the flourishing downtown region.

Graphic by RTC, Photos courtesy Hyderabad Randonneurs and TrailLink user fredjerina

A Student of Biking: Learning to Love Trails

Posted 09/15/21 by Ugesh Egala in America's Trails, Trail Use, Health and Wellness | Tagged with Health and Active Living, Trail Moments, Walkability and Bikeability, Why Use Trails?

Bike rides clear my mind and help me focus on the rest of the day. For me, quick physical activities during the weekdays are now based around trails—a positive lifestyle change that I would encourage for everyone.

Perry's depot along the Raccoon River Valley Trail | Courtesy Raccoon River Valley Trail Association

Iowa’s Raccoon River Valley Trail

Posted 09/10/21 by Laura Stark in America's Trails | Tagged with Best Of, Connected Systems, Great American Rail-Trail, Hall of Fame, Iowa, Tourism , Tourism and Economic Development, Trail Communities, Trail Destinations, Trail of the Month, Walkability and Bikeability

In pastoral west-central Iowa, the Raccoon River Valley Trail has won this year’s blue-ribbon prize: entrance into the Rail-Trail Hall of Fame. The 89-mile pathway garnered some 16,000 votes in the national competition—a figure larger than the population of most of the small towns along its route, several home to fewer than 300 people.

Photos courtesy Dale Majors and TrailLink user protoolned, graphic by RTC

How To Long-Distance Bike Tour With (Six!) Young Kids

Posted 09/03/21 by Dale Majors in America's Trails, Trail Use | Tagged with Encouraging Trail Use, Health and Active Living, How-to, Trail Businesses, Trail Moments, Trail Use Tips, Walkability and Bikeability, Why Use Trails?

I know it’s intimidating to plan a route that will be safe for your family while offering sufficient camping and have other important necessities like access to grocery stores close to the trail. We’ve found that good rails-trail routes can be very forgiving to those new to bike touring. We’ve learned so much since then and wanted to share some of our hard-earned lessons to make things easier for you.

Photo by Lisa Watts, graphic by RTC

The Great Bike Shortage? For Me, It Was the Great Bike Summer!

Posted 09/02/21 by Silvia Ascarelli in America's Trails | Tagged with COVID-19, Demand for Trails, Encouraging Trail Use, Health and Active Living, Schools and Young People, Trail Moments, Trail Use Tips, Walkability and Bikeability, Why Use Trails?

In late May 2020, during the early days of the COVID-induced Great Bike Shortage, I stood in line with a neighbor to buy a used bike. Her first bike. My neighbor Shahreen is in her late 30s and didn’t know how to ride a bike, so she asked me to teach her. And so began my Great Bike Summer.

Tokul Trestle on the Snoqualmie Valley Trail | Photo by Eli Brownell, courtesy King County Parks

Washington’s Snoqualmie Valley Trail

Posted 08/09/21 by Agueda Pacheco Flores in America's Trails | Tagged with Best Of, Demand for Trails, Great American Rail-Trail, Local Organizing, Trail Destinations, Trail of the Month, Walkability and Bikeability, Washington

To experience the best of what the Pacific Northwest has to offer, head to the Snoqualmie Valley Trail (SVT). It’s more than a state gem—the trail comes to represent a historical and cultural backbone of western Washington.

Photo by Shawn Gossman, graphic by RTC

How a Rail-Trail Helped Save My Life and Redirect My Focus

Posted 08/06/21 by Shawn Gossman in America's Trails, Health and Wellness | Tagged with Health and Active Living, Illinois, Trail Moments, Walkability and Bikeability, Why Use Trails?

That first time I rode on the rail-trail, I fell madly in love with it and cycling. I also found my first hiking trail while riding the trail. I then started hiking and eventually created a YouTube channel to show friends and family where I hike and bike.

42nd Street Slow Street in Oakland, California | Photo by Ben Kaufman

What’s Ahead for the Movement to Create Safe Outdoor Space in Every Neighborhood

Posted 08/02/21 by Christina Sturdivant Sani in America's Trails | Tagged with Demand for Trails, Encouraging Trail Use, Mode Shift, Success Stories, Trail Communities, Walkability and Bikeability

An analysis of 31 trail counters for the week of March 16–22 found a nationwide trail usage increase of nearly 200% from that same week in 2019. It was clear that the demand for safe spaces to be active outside was far exceeding supply. The organization used this data as the driver for a petition that advocated for cities and towns to close streets to vehicle traffic (which had dropped substantially due to mandatory lockdowns), creating more places for people to walk, bike and roll at a safe distance from one another. In the transportation world, this is known as the Open Streets movement.