This primer explores the benefits of Rails-to-Trails Conservancy’s Urban Pathways Initiative (UPI), a program that advocates for equitable investment in vulnerable communities to promote the health, transportation and environmental benefits of trail use. UPI provides community-based assistance to groups and municipal agencies which promote or develop pathways intersecting low-income communities. This report shares lessons learned from UPI and focuses on strategies to encourage […]

This April 2010 draft memorandum of understanding between the city of Columbus, Ohio, Recreation and Parks Department and Franklin County, Ohio, regional parks system MetroParks is part of an agreement in which MetroParks assumes maintenance responsibility for maintenance of trails within the city of Columbus. Created by City of Columbus

This research project provides up-to-date information on legal risks to transportation and other public entities having bikeways, or the authority to designate them, or bicycle use on shared roadways. This report will be useful to attorneys, transportation officials, risk managers, planners, maintenance engineers, financial officers, policy makers, and all persons interested in the relative rights […]

This brochure provides safety and courtesy reminders for trail users. Author: City of Redmond, Washington

This report focuses on reported dollars spent from trail user surveys completed on seven rail-trails in Pennsylvania using the same methodology. In addition, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy reviewed seven trail user surveys completed on comparable rail-trails in the northeast United States. Unlike public opinion polls, a trail user survey seeks specific information from the people actually on the trails. A number of trail […]

New trail managers are often concerned that managing a trail will expose them to liability for trail-user injuries, or worry about the high cost of purchasing insurance to protect from potential lawsuits. However, trail managers have a number of legal protections that limit their exposure to liability. As a result of these legal tools, when coupled […]

This document describes how to use a new method to analyze the quality of service provided by shared-use paths of various widths that accommodate various travel mode splits. Given a count or an estimate of the overall path user volume in the design hour, the new method described here can provide the level of service […]

The purpose of this manual is to help you implement a trail user survey and determine the economic impact that your trail has on your community. Four sample survey forms are included in the appendix of this manual.

This report is one in a three part series looking at linear recreation corridors, or trails, in Virginia. The intent of the series is to quantify a number of issues related to recreational trail use across different types of trails in the State. These issues broadly include: (1) trail use, (2) user demographics and preferences, […]

This report outlines the general legal issues associated with trails, including the risks and responsibilities of various constituencies. The intent is to provide trail advocates, adjacent landowners and trail managers with a background on liability issues to prepare them to pose appropriate questions to their legal counsel when developing a trail or when an accident occurs. This report concludes that trail-related […]