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 […]

Effective February 2, 2020, the Surface Transportation Board (STB) amends regulations related to railbanking negotiations and the amount of time permitted to reach a railbanking agreement. The new regulations extend the initial railbanking negotiation period to one year (from 180-days) and limit the number of one-year extensions to three, with further extensions considered only under […]

Why predict the cost of the network? The Capital Trails Coalition seeks to create an 800-miles-plus world-class network of multiuse trails that are equitably distributed throughout the Washington, D.C., metropolitan region. The trail network is a key strategy in an effort to create a healthier, more connected populace. With the third-highest amount of traffic in the nation, […]

More than half of all trips in the United States are within a 20-minute bike ride or less, and more than one in four trips are within a 20-minute walk or less, according to the 2017 National Household Travel Survey. Even so, the majority of these short trips are taken by automobile. Across rural, suburban and […]

Transportation in communities across America is changing with the advent of many small and light personal-mobility options, which typically run on electric motors, such as electric-assist bicycles (e-bikes), e-scooters (scooters) and hoverboards. Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (RTC) offers this perspective to assist communities, trail managers and policy makers in making decisions about how best to manage these devices […]

In 2017, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (RTC) was funded by the William Penn Foundation to advance planning and development of a trail along the Richmond Industrial Track Rail Corridor in the Kensington, Fairhill and Port Richmond communities. A $1.8 million corridor cleanup by Conrail, the adjacent rail road, with the City of Philadelphia created an opening for […]

There are numerous examples of successful trails throughout the Capital District and the larger region which can be used as case studies. It is the goal of this section to showcase some examples of these successful trails—how were they developed, what lessons were learned—so that other communities can follow their example and be better prepared […]

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

A key goal of the 11th Street Bridge Park is to serve as an anchor for equitable and inclusive economic growth. The Bridge Park’s design strategies will increase connectivity between those living on both sides of the Anacostia River, but more must be done to ensure that residents and small businesses nearby will continually benefit from […]

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 […]