There aren’t cash registers on your trail. If you want ridership to boost your local economy, you have to tap your town into that opportunity—actively. The Progress Fund’s Trail Town Program was the first to formalize this approach, and has successfully grown the economic impact of the Great Allegheny Passage for 10+ years. View this […]

Trail Impact Survey prepared by Rails-to-Trails Conservancy to help investigate in the economic impact of trails. 

Executive Summary: In West Virginia, an incredible opportunity awaits. The 238-mile Parkersburg to Pittsburgh (P2P) rail-trail is already nearly 80 percent complete; just a few short gaps exist in West Virginia to unlock a contiguous 150-miles-plus stretch of the rail-trail from Parkersburg to the state’s border with Pennsylvania. Completing these short gaps in Wood, Harrison […]

Project Details Lead Authority: Napa Valley Vine Trail CoalitionTotal Project Cost: $55 millionFunding Pledged to Date: $41.7 million Federal/State: $16.7 millionLocal: $11.5 millionPrivate: $13.5 million Shovel-Ready: Within 2 years or lessType: Rural, urban Transformative Impact Job Creation: An estimated 935 jobs directly1 Transportation: Trail could provide a safe off-road transportation alternative for18,000 students attending school within a half-mile of the trail; also reduces congestion […]

Project Details Lead Authority: Baltimore City, Baltimore Greenway Trails Coalition, Rails to Trails Conservancy, Bikemore, Greater Washington Partnership, Southeast Community Development Corporation, South Baltimore Gateway Partnership  Total Project Cost: $28 millionFunding Pledged to Date: $4.7 million Federal: $2,250,000Local: $1,650,000Private: $840,000 Shovel-Ready: 1 year or lessType: Urban Transformative Impact Job Creation: An estimated 476 jobs directly3 Transportation Impact: The network will provide connections to over 75 […]

Project Details Lead Authority: MetroplanTotal Project Cost: $33 millionFunding Pledged to Date: $6 million Federal: $0State: $0Local: $6 million Shovel-Ready: 2 years or lessType: Rural, Suburban, Urban Transformative Impact Job Creation: An estimated $26.6 million in construction expenditures supporting 320 direct jobs1 from construction and 130 indirect jobs (e.g., from materials manufacturing); $2 million in total tourism expenditures resulting in 27 induced jobs per year […]

This legislation established the Jonesville Public Use Area for protection of wildlife and motorized and nonmotorized vehicle use and passed House Committee.

This matrix is intended to present a summary of state laws pertaining to the legal liability of trail managers as of the year 2018. Every effort has been made to provide accurate citations and summaries in this matrix. However, due to the fluid nature of legislation and the limits of a summary format, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy […]

For new trails and parks to best serve existing communities, it is important to plan them with support and input from the current surrounding community. The process of achieving community buy-in is not always clear, however. As planners seek to build new or improved public spaces, it is important to consider all the potential effects […]

The Delaware & Hudson (D&H) Rail-Trail is a multi-use stone trail located in rural northeast Pennsylvania that has significant snowmobile use. It generally follows the border of Susquehanna and Wayne counties and reaches to the New York state line from its southern terminus near the city of Carbondale.  From December 2015 through October 2017, Rails-to-Trails […]