February 2010 - RTC TrailBlog

March is just around the corner, with warmer weather—and thoughts of getting outside and getting active—not far behind.

It's also National Nutrition Month and, in observance, North Carolina Public Health has published a tip sheet outlining simple steps one can take to create a more healthy, active lifestyle.

In "5 Easy Ways to Create Walkable/Bikeable Communities," the advice is sound and to the point:

• Understand the issues
• Speak your mind
• Write a letter, send an e-mail message
• Get involved with local trail groups
• Walk and bike the talk

Even better, both Rails-to-Trails Conservancy and TrailLink.com are featured as go-to resources for connecting with the trails and trail groups near you.

For more, see 5 Easy Ways to Create Walkable/Bikeable Communities from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Public Health.

Trail/Bicycle/Pedestrian Projects to Help Create Jobs and Spur Economic Growth

Announced Wednesday, Feb. 17, several active transportation investments were included among 51 projects to receive TIGER funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) Discretionary Grant Program is a highly competitive, national opportunity to fund transportation projects that are “innovative, multi-modal and multi-jurisdictional,” and that “promise significant economic and environmental benefits to an entire metropolitan area, a region or the nation,” according to the press release from U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood.

“TIGER grants will tackle the kind of major transportation projects that have been difficult to build under other funding programs,” said LaHood. “This will help us meet the 21st century challenges of improving the environment, making our communities more livable and enhancing safety, all while creating jobs and growing the economy.”

More than 1,400 applications were submitted. RTC encouraged its partners in our Campaign for Active Transportation to enter the competition back when the TIGER program guidelines were posted in June 2009. It is an exciting measure of progress that several Active Transportation Campaign projects made the final cut, including:

• Philadelphia, Pa., and Camden, N.J., together received $23 million to develop a pedestrian and bicycle network, including commuter routes close to downtown. The work will provide a double economic lift, creating immediate construction jobs as well as impressive ongoing economic development benefits for areas hardest hit by the economic downturn. The Camden GreenWay will receive $5.8 million, a substantial down payment on the inspiring vision of an interconnected trail system that our partner, Cooper's Ferry Development Association, helped develop for RTC’s Active Transportation Campaign. This grant also will fill gaps in the Schuylkill River Trail in Philadelphia, part of the East Coast Greenway.
• Indianapolis, Ind., was awarded $20.5 million to complete an eight-mile trail in the heart of downtown that will provide critical connectivity to their active transportation system. The project will link commercial, residential and cultural destinations. As with Indianapolis’ case statement for RTC’s campaign, the project reflects careful prioritization to maximize economic, environmental and health benefits of the investment. A video (embedded below) describes this project in more detail.
• Burlington, Vt., will receive $3.15 million for waterfront development, including a trail that is an important piece of Burlington’s planned active transportation system.

These three projects alone will receive more than 3 percent of TIGER funding, and nearly half of the funded projects include bicycle and pedestrian elements, such as complete streets or bridge access. View the complete list of the TIGER projects chosen, and check out the Active Transportation Campaign Case Statements RTC gathered from communities across the country in support of more federal investment in trails, biking and walking. They are evidence of a groundswell of support for focused federal investment to complete active transportation systems to make it safe and convenient to choose bicycling and walking for shorter routine trips.

This post has been edited by Kartik Sribarra to reflect minor corrections to the Philadelphia, Pa., and Camden, N.J., bullet and by Stephen Miller to include a video about the Indianapolis Cultural Trail.

This week, First Lady Michelle Obama launched Let's Move, an initiative to fight childhood obesity by focusing on nutrition and physical activity at both school and home. At the White House launch of Let's Move, Mayor Joseph Curtatone of Somerville, Mass., spoke about Shape Up Somerville, a seven-year-old partnership in his city that has aggressively tackled the problem of obesity. The Somerville Community Path, a rail-trail though the heart of this densely populated city that connects to both the Minuteman Bikeway and the MBTA Red Line, has been an important part of the city's anti-obesity efforts by providing residents of adjacent neighborhoods with a safe place to walk and bike for recreation and transportation.

The success of the Somerville Community Path as part of a larger effort to combat obesity provides lessons for pathways in other cities. In an effort to understand the nuts and bolts of these and other best practices for urban trails and greenways, RTC's Urban Pathways Initiative is convening a forum in New Orleans on February 25, part of a larger conference called Urban Pathways to Livable Communities. The forum will bring together advocates and professionals working on urban pathways in cities across the nation, including a representative from Somerville, to discuss the challenges and successes they have experienced in their efforts to make pathways in urban neighborhoods safe, inviting and popular places for transportation and physical activity

By providing space for a casual walk, jog or bike ride to residents of neighborhoods without many other options for regular physical activity, urban pathways become a key component of addressing the national challenge of obesity.

If there is one stand-out in the rail-trail world, it may be Missouri's 225-mile Katy Trail—the longest rail-trail in the country and a hugely popular destination for trail tourists around the world.

On Thursday, February 4, Katy Trail lovers had one more reason to laud their favorite trail as Missouri Governor Jay Nixon announced a plan to save the iconic "Boonville Bridge," a 400-foot-long, steel lift bridge on the MKT railroad corridor in Boonville, Mo. Once retrofitted, the bridge would seamlessly—and uniquely—connect the Katy Trail on either side of the Missouri River.

The bridge, owned by Union Pacific, has been the subject of much debate and contention since the last train crossed its tracks in 1986. Union Pacific intended to dismantle the bridge and reuse its steel to create a railroad crossing on the Osage River. The Save the Katy Bridge coalition has long-fought this action, citing the significant tourism and recreation revenue the Katy Trail generates, as well as the historical importance of the Boonville structure.

Gov. Nixon's proposal would give federal Recovery Act funds to Union Pacific to help construct the Osage River bridge, while Union Pacific would transfer ownership of the historic bridge to the city of Boonville.

We at Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (RTC), long-time supporters of the Katy Trail, applaud this preservation progress. In 2008, during a trip to Jefferson City, Mo., to induct the Katy Trail into RTC's Rail-Trail Hall of Fame, RTC President Keith Laughlin and staff visited Boonville to see the bridge first-hand. We were awed by its magnificence.

Congratulations to the coalition, Gov. Nixon and all the Katy Trail supporters who never gave up on preserving this piece of railroad history. 

Top right: The Boonville Bridge extends across the Missouri River and would connect the Katy Trail on the north and south banks.

Bottom left: A view of the Boonville Bridge from the south side of the Missouri River. (RTC/Jennifer Kaleba)