RTC TrailBlog

RTC's Northeast Regional Office is completing work on a report of trail users and economic impact analysis for the Schuylkill River Trail in southeast Pennsylvania. The trail runs from downtown Philadelphia, connecting to commuter transit lines and continuing northwest toward Valley Forge National Historic Park and farther into suburban and rural areas. Covering a total of 56 miles, the trail is currently broken into three sections of open pathway.

In order to get a clear picture of the trail users' priorities, we decided that separating the survey respondents into metropolitan area users and suburban/rural users would be most helpful for the trail management.

The categories that showed substantive differences between metropolitan users and suburban users are:

1. Age group: The majority of users in the metropolitan section are younger than 46. In the suburban section, the majority are older than 46.
2. Primary activity: Though cycling is the primary activity on both sections of trail, nearly twice as many people are jogging on the metropolitan section than on the suburban section.
3. Economic impact: The metropolitan users reported spending an average of $10.04 per trail visit, while the suburban trail users spent an average of $8.07.

Fifty percent of users on the Schuylkill River Trail spend an average of $9.07 per visit to the trail. That's a total of $3,628,000 local economic impact from expenditures on consumable products such as snacks, water or meals.

The report was developed for the Schuylkill River Greenway Association and the Schuylkill River Trail Council through funding provided by the William Penn Foundation. Learn more about the survey and read a final report on survey results.

Photo of Schuylkill River Trail by Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (original post edited 1/28/2010). Post edited again 03/03/2010 to include link to final report.

It’s that time of year again. With holiday indulgences behind us and the promise of a new year ahead, one of the most popular resolutions for Americans is to start – and stick to – a regular exercise routine.

Here are some ideas for using your local rail-trail to help keep your exercise resolution:

• Rail-Trail Exercise Club – Join a running or walking club, like the So Yo Trail Blazers, which meets on Saturday mornings at the Heritage Rail Trail County Park in Pennsylvania.
• Rail-Trail Race – Training for a running or cycling race is another good way to incorporate regular exercise into your schedule. There are a number of races on rail-trails around the country, including the Pace of Courage in Portland, Ore.; the Katy Trail 5K in Dallas, Texas; and the Cumberland Valley Rail-Trail Race, Run, Ride, and Ramble in southern Pennsylvania.
• Commuting Convoy – Join other bicyclists in your area in riding to work regularly, like the Don’t Sweat It! morning rides that RTC hosted last October on the Metropolitan Branch Trail in Washington, D.C.

These activities also help build awareness and support for your local rail-trails. If you can’t find a group in your area, invite your friends and neighbors and start your own. You’ll be exercising regularly in no time. And when you need a little extra motivation, the other members in your group will be there to nudge you on.

Photo by Stephen Miller/Rails-to-Trails Conservancy.

This study in contrasts caught my eye this afternoon. The cities of Methuen and Newburyport, both along the Merrimack River in Massachusetts, are only 20 miles from each other. In Methuen, a rail-trail is under development, while in Newburyport the Clipper City Rail Trail is receiving its finishing touches. Both trails have large walls created by bridge abutments. Both walls act as ideal canvases but have received vastly different types of art recently. In Methuen, colorful graffiti has sprouted, while in Newburyport artist Bob Kimball was commissioned by the city to produce mounted steel sculptures of local fish species. 

The Methuen Rail-Trail blog says that while the graffiti is temporary, it "is quite impressive and obviously represents an investment of time and energy." Downstream, Newburyport-Today notes the "very positive response to the new sculptures already from people walking the trail." The interest generated by these installations proves that art can take all forms on rail-trails, even in cities so close to each other.

Top photo from Newburyport-Today; bottom photo from Methuen Rail-Trail blog.

Rails-to-Trails Conservancy is proud to present a unique opportunity to meet other professionals working to encourage trail use and livable neighborhoods. RTC is one of the hosts of Urban Pathways to Livable Communities, a two-part conference in New Orleans, February 25-26, 2010. Day 1 is an invitation-only forum for professionals working to encourage use of shared-use pathways in low-income urban neighborhoods. We will discuss trail amenities and programming, engaging diverse constituencies, reducing crime and improving traffic safety. Day 2 takes a broader look at the issues of livability across the nation and on the federal level. The latest conference information and pre-registration can be found at www.railstotrails.org/conference.

Day 1, hosted by RTC's Urban Pathways Initiative, includes a walking workshop along the Lafitte Corridor, a greenway project in New Orleans. For a preview of the corridor, the promise it holds and the challenges it faces - issues common to urban pathways across the nation - listen to this piece which is airing today on WWOZ, posted by Friends of Lafitte Corridor:

As more communities seek to accommodate both active and rail transportation, rail-with-trail has become an increasingly popular concept. Many successful examples of rails-with-trails exist in North America, but it's not uncommon for local leaders and railroad companies to be apprehensive about developing multi-use paths within active railroad rights-of-way (ROW).

However, mounting evidence supports the claim that trails and trains can coexist, and more rail-with-trail projects are in development across the United States and Canada. At RTC, we are often contacted by local and state groups that want to know how to advocate for rails-with-trails in existing and planned railroad ROW. Through this exchange, we have a growing collection of resources that can help build the case for rail-with-trail. For a summary of rail-with-trail issues and a comprehensive list of studies, reports and photos, visit the rail-with-trail section of our Trail-Building Toolbox. Also, be sure to check out RTC's newest publication, California Rails-with-Trails: A Survey of Trails Along Active Rail Lines. There are also numerous resources available elsewhere online:

Photo Collections

• Trails with Rails - John Luton's Flickr site: Luton is a councillor for the city of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada, and executive director of the Capital Bike and Walk Society. His impressive collection of rail-with-trail photos provides a glimpse of the newly developed E&N Rail Trail (named for the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway) as well as examples from other jurisdictions.
• Capital Bike and Walk Society - Rails-with-Trails Photo Gallery: John Luton's photos can also be found in this photo gallery, which includes images from Nanaimo, Seattle and Portland.
• American Trails - Cool Trail Solutions, Rails-with-Trails: This gallery includes photos from rails-with-trails in California, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Oregon and Wisconsin.
• Schuylkill River Park Alliance - Trail Crossings Photo Gallery: Between 2003 and 2007, the Schuylkill River Park Alliance (formerly Free the River Park) successfully campaigned to provide better access to the Schuylkill River Park Trail by urging the city of Philadelphia and CSX Transportation to allow safe street-level crossings and develop a connector bridge between the trail and the "original" Schuylkill River Park. Their collection of photos illustrates dozens of safe trail and rail crossings.

Statewide Rail-with-Trail Advocacy Efforts

• The Virginia Bicycling Federation has garnered support from dozens of national and state organizations requesting a formal endorsement from Virginia Governor Timothy Kaine to support rails-with-trails along all major rail projects in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Read more about their effort to implement innovative rail-with-trail policy at the state level.

New Rail-with-Trail Projects

• Capital Metro Transportation Authority of Austin, Texas, includes rails-with-trails in the long-range transit plan and completed a feasibility study in 2007 that illustrates how multi-use trails will be developed and integrated with transit development.
• The Metropolitan Branch Trail in Washington, D.C., includes a segment that is directly adjacent to a large railroad ROW used by CSX Transportation, Amtrak, MARC commuter trains and Washington Metro Red Line. 
• Railroad Park, a proposed 20-acre multi-facility park in Birmingham, Ala., includes rail-with-trail.
• The city of Kelowna in British Columbia, Canada, recently completed the first phase of a proposed 20-kilometer rail-with-trail project.

Photo of Cedar Lake Regional Trail in Minnesota by Rails-to-Trails Conservancy.

By Ethan Ellestad

Located at 2401 St. Ann Street, just two blocks off the path of the Lafitte Greenway, Willie Mae's Scotch House has been a culinary institution for more than 50 years. Willie Mae Seaton, the restaurant's namesake and proprietress for most of its long history, originally opened the famous business in 1956. By 2005, Willie Mae's was locally and nationally famous for its exquisite fried chicken, smothered pork chops, butter beans and other southern specialties. In May of the same year, the small, family-owned restaurant achieved what most other eateries can only dream about - it was honored by the James Beard Foundation, dubbed the "Oscars of the Food World" by Time magazine. Willie Mae Seaton was also honored at City Hall for her contributions to the city of New Orleans. Yet, only three months later, Hurricane Katrina flooded the restaurant, kitchen and bar with four feet of water, throwing the institution's future into doubt. With assistance from the Southern Foodways Alliance, the Seaton family reopened Willie Mae's Scotch House in April of 2007.

Upon reopening, Ms. Seaton turned over the daily operation of the restaurant to the able hands of her granddaughter, Kerry Seaton. Since that time, the accolades have continued, and Willie Mae's has been featured by the Food Network, which bestowed the honor of "America's Best Fried Chicken," the Travel Channel and Bon Appetit magazine. This increase in national attention has led to an increasing number of tourists stopping in for the famous fried chicken, though New Orleans natives still make up a large portion of the daily clientele. Celebrities, too, have made the pilgrimage to Willie Mae's, including Spike Lee, Magic Johnson, sports analyst Tony Kornheiser, R&B singers Genuine and Drake, and numerous actors and actresses.

The younger Ms. Seaton sees a bright future for Willie Mae's Scotch House, but she would love to see more traffic in the area. She envisions the section of the Treme and the Seventh Ward surrounding the restaurant transformed into a culinary and entertainment district, "where people come out in the evening and enjoy themselves, just like they do Uptown or in Mid-City." An increase of interest in the area, due in no small part to the Willie Mae's acclaimed cuisine, as well as the impending construction of the Lafitte Greenway, may soon make this vision a reality.

This post is a shortened version of the original, posted at the website of RTC partner StayLocal! New Orleans. Photo by Ethan Ellestad.

Many urban pathways serve low-income communities. The Safe Routes to School National Partnership is searching for examples of Safe Routes to School (SRTS) programs in these neighborhoods. They are also seeking examples of SRTS programs that relate SRTS to student health and wellness.

From Margo Pedroso/Safe Routes to School National Partnership:

With generous funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Public Health Association, the Safe Routes to School National Partnership is developing two different SRTS resource guides. One is for volunteers and professionals working locally with low-income and diverse communities to showcase promising strategies and success stories. The other is for education professionals and policymakers at state and local levels, focused on how SRTS fits into state and local efforts to improve health and fitness.

We are asking our partners to help identify local communities with promising SRTS initiatives that can be featured in either of the resource guides. Read on for more details:

1. Promising examples of SRTS in low-income and diverse communities:  We are looking for examples of low-income, urban, rural, and/or communities of color that show promise in implementing SRTS and overcoming barriers like crime, limited financial resources, language and cultural barriers, staff turnover, and more. Please send any suggestions to Margo Pedroso at margo@saferoutespartnership.org.
2. Promising examples of SRTS as part of student health and wellness:  We are seeking examples of schools, school districts, or states that have included SRTS into broader efforts to get children healthy and active. We aim to help demonstrate why student physical activity impacts a schools' core mission of educating children. Please send any suggestions to Margo Pedroso at margo@saferoutespartnership.org. 

Thank you very much for your help in identifying promising local SRTS examples and prospective consultants. With your input, we can develop two outstanding resources guides that will help strengthen the implementation of SRTS initiatives across the country.

RECEIVE RAILROAD ABANDONMENT NOTICES FOR YOUR STATE VIA E-MAIL

On or about December 8, 2009, Regional Rail Right of Way Company filed for the abandonment of 5.34 miles of track in Collin and Dallas Counties, Texas. We are providing this information because it presents an opportunity to develop a real regional asset: a multi-use trail that can accommodate hikers, bikers, equestrians and other appropriate uses.

NEXT STEPS: If this corridor is suitable for trail use, we strongly urge local trail advocates, or an appropriate local, regional or state agency or organization, to take action now. A "boiler plate" letter (found here) can be filed with the Surface Transportation Board (STB) and the abandoning railroad using STB docket number AB-1050 (sub-no. 0x). Filing this letter does not commit its authors to acquire the corridor; it merely gives time to develop a rail-trail proposal and undertake negotiations with the railroad. According to the information we have received, the deadline for filing this letter is January 7, 2010. Even if this deadline is missed, there is probably still time to contact the relevant parties, since the railroad may have experienced a delay in filing all of the paperwork, or the STB may still have jurisdiction over the corridor. However, it is important to take prompt action. The STB posts all abandonment decisions and filings on its Web site, including the complete filing for this corridor. More information on the rail corridor, including a map, can be found in this filing.

The STB has imposed a $200 filing fee for all railbanking requests. Entities filing a railbanking request may request a fee waiver or reduction, and government agencies will receive an automatic fee waiver. Throughout the process, make sure local government officials and citizen activists are kept informed of the project's progress. We also recommend contacting your state trails coordinator or your state bicycle/pedestrian coordinator.

Both of these individuals are knowledgeable about state laws and resources and may be able to assist your community with this rail-trail project. Also, you may want to contact the abandoning railroad to add your name to their service list.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES AVAILABLE: RTC's Web site may provide valuable tools as you plan for a rail-trail, including how-to manuals, the Trail-Building Toolbox, our Publications Library and the Trails & Greenways Listserv for trail advocates and professionals. These resources can be found within the "Trail-Building" section of our Web site. If you take advantage of this information and other resources promptly, you will be well on your way to creating a successful rail-trail in your community. For more information, or if you decide to pursue railbanking, please contact the National Office of Rails-to-Trails Conservancy.