Executive Summary THE GREAT AMERICAN RAIL-TRAIL VISION Imagine pedaling across the entire country on a safe, seamless and scenic pathway—or walking a local trail that connects you to historic routes from coast to coast. You’re enthralled in the experience of exploring America’s heritage—its potential, its beauty and bounty, its people and places. Consider the intimacy […]

Executive Summary The 30th Street Industrial Corridor has a rich history as an industrial and manufacturing employment hub west and northwest of downtown Milwaukee, particularly for Milwaukee’s African American community. The neighborhoods that grew as a result of the postwar economic boom once had one of the highest standards of living for African Americans in […]

Executive Summary The small towns and cities between Cleveland and Pittsburgh are home to some of America’s richest industrial heritage and history. Innovations in 19th-century transportation unlocked the region’s potential, delivering new people and new economies, and fueling westward development and a booming industrial market nationwide. As these economies took hold, the “industrial heartland” emerged—from the coal mines of West […]

In celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the National Trails System Act (1968), Rails to Trails magazine sat down with Ferster to talk about some of the cases that have shaped the movement—as well as the monumental importance of railbanking, which—born from the National Trails System Act in 1983—has helped facilitate the creation of thousands of miles of rail-trails to date.

With a newly opened extension of the MCT Goshen Trail, travelers can now also access neighboring St. Clair County by trail for the first time. Providing even more transit options for locals, many of St. Clair County’s trails are being developed to intertwine with MetroLink, the region’s light rail system.

Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (RTC) and the national trail community put itself on the front lines to protect and defend trails in 2018. Here are five ways we mobilized in communities this year.

Pete Raynor, central author of Railbanking legislation, was named 2018 Rail-Trail Champion. The 1983 Railbanking Act helped make many trails.

The P2P corridor heads east out of the Ohio River port city of Parkersburg, along the North Bend Rail Trail, through small, rural communities like Cairo, West Union and Salem. Seventy-eight percent of the 150-mile West Virginia section is already complete, with a few key gaps in Wood, Harrison and Marion counties.

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 […]

RTC’s put together this little trail-geek cheat sheet so that we can all bone up on our trail and active-transportation policy speak.