RTC TrailBlog : outreach

Detroit Trail Maintenance Project Celebrates Completion of Pilot, Looks to Future

Stephen Miller (RTC) — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 17:46:00 GMT

By Ruby Brunk

In 2010, the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan, through its GreenWays Initiative, awarded a $147,433 grant to The Greening of Detroit for a pilot project focusing on the maintenance of local greenways. The resulting project not only kept targeted greenways maintained but also provided jobs and improved community trail usage and stewardship.

The Detroit Greenway Maintenance Pilot Project focused on Detroit’s Conner Creek, Southwest Detroit-Dearborn and Lyndon greenways. Before the season began, The Greening’s project manager met with partners from each site to go over specific maintenance details. The three greenways were split into manageable sections, and extensive maintenance surveys were conducted. The Greening developed work plans based on the surveys and kept careful records of all work performed. Four individuals were hired to make up the project’s maintenance crew. In addition to pre-season field orientations, the crew was given an overview on their work in the larger context of greenway development. Crew members also benefited from trainings on tool use, horticulture and landscaping throughout the season.

The regular presence of the crew, along with the work they accomplished, boosted morale on the greenway and increased community use and stewardship. Crewmembers reported on daily positive interactions, such as greenway users thanking them for their work or seeking them out to address additional maintenance issues. The community was further engaged by the project’s Growing Greener Detroit Series, which brought together Detroit residents, schools, churches and community organizations for events on the greenway. Partnerships with community centers and the dispersal of 3,000 promotional flyers were part of a concerted outreach effort, resulting in 316 youth and adults from 68 different organizations participating in day camps, tree walks, service days, horticulture workshops and other programming.

One of the goals of the Detroit Greenways Maintenance Pilot Project was to develop best practices for Detroit’s current and future greenways. On the Conner Creek, Southwest Detroit-Dearborn and Lyndon greenways, the success of the project is palpable. With the Detroit Greenways Coalition moving the city's trail network forward, this project should help inform the planning of other greenways in Detroit.

Photo: Detroit's Dequindre Cut Greenway by Flickr user Rex Roof.

Join RTC at Walk & Roll Louisiana 2010

Stephen Miller (RTC) — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 14:31:00 GMT

Join Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (RTC) for Walk & Roll Louisiana 2010, a free, one-day summit on walking and biking sponsored by the KidsWalk Coalition.

REGISTER TODAY - IT'S FREE!

The summit-the first of its kind in Louisiana-will feature free helmets and bicycle safety trainings for kids, keynote speakers, workshops on ways to improve community streets, and panels on recent progress at the local and state levels on making our streets safer for all users.

In addition, RTC staff will be presenting the results of the community volunteer walk/bike audit of neighborhoods surrounding the planned Lafitte Corridor Greenway in New Orleans.

Register today to join the movement for safer streets, enjoy a free lunch, and get a chance to win a bicycle and other prizes by visiting the summit website or calling 504.988.7778.

Wiki What? Bike and Pedestrian Resources, from New York to California

Stephen Miller (RTC) — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 19:47:00 GMT

In an effort to solicit input on its Long Range Transportation Plan, the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) Non-Motorized Program has launched its Bike/Ped Wiki. This website allows users to upload, comment on and modify plans that could be included in the final plan from SCAG. With a goal of getting the planning process out from behind closed doors and serving as a long-term collaboration tool, this wiki serves a different purpose than most other wikis, which are collaboratively edited online encyclopedias. While Wikipedia is the most famous online encyclopedia, the active transportation world has StreetsWiki, which grew out of the efforts of New York-based Streetsblog.

If you are involved with active transportation in Southern California, we encourage you to sign up and get involved--the future of bicycle and pedestrian access depends on your vision.

Photo: Chandler Bikeway by Rails-to-Trails Conservancy.

Louisiana Green Corps Youth Help Plan Lafitte Corridor

Stephen Miller (RTC) — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 14:41:00 GMT

By Ethan Ellestad

As a teenager, it is often hard enough to get your voice heard, let alone be taken seriously. Yet, on a hot day in late June, more than 30 young people from the Louisiana Green Corps set out on a tour of the Lafitte Greenway to prove that their opinions and ideas were just as valid as anyone’s twice their age.

Every summer, the Louisiana Green Corps, a non-profit dedicated to providing green job skills training to unemployed, underemployed or otherwise disadvantaged New Orleans youth, host an intensive six week summer program for 14 and 15 year old students.

As a part of this program, members of the Green Corps set their sights on creating a more youth-friendly Lafitte Greenway. On a sun-drenched June day, the group began with some basic maintenance, picking up bits of trash and cutting back the most overgrown areas.

Soon, however, they moved into the bulk of the day’s work. Walking down a stretch of the Greenway, the students took note of the existing assets and imagined the possibilities. One noted that a pair of abandoned tennis courts could be turned into basketball courts. Another suggested that a well-placed snoball stand would be a great way for residents to beat the summer heat. Many of the young people, pointing out the lack of infrastructure along the way, thought several rest stops would provide both shade and a place for people to gather along the path.

Throughout the day, a common refrain was the lack of recreational activities youth currently have in the city. It was agreed that the Greenway, if designed with the needs of young people in mind, could help fill that gap. After a day visiting the actual site of the Greenway, the participating youth then spent the following few days in the classroom, discussing how, if given the chance, they would design the space. Conversations jumped from topic to topic, including such issues as public safety, environmental sustainability, and, of course, recreation. On the final day of the exercise, groups of students presented their ideas, two of which—Lafitte Going Green and Lafitte Corridor Rest Stop—are available online.

Many thanks are due to the Louisiana Green Corps for helping facilitate this effort, and also all the youth who participated. It remains important that young people have their voices heard in the design process, as they are the ones who can best articulate their own needs. If you have a youth group that may want to participate in similar efforts, please e-mail Lafitte Greenway Community Outreach Coordinator Ethan Ellestad at lafittegreenway@gmail.com.

This post is a modified version of theoriginal, posted at the website of RTC partner Friends of Lafitte Corridor. Photo by Gregory Aycock/Louisiana Green Corps.

Watch: D.C. Residents Meet the Met Branch Trail

Stephen Miller (RTC) — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 21:59:00 GMT

On June 5, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy celebrated National Trails Day by hosting an event with Kaiser Permanente on the Metropolitan Branch Trail. The event, called Meet the Met: Party on the Met Branch Trail, introduced surrounding communities to a new pathway that had opened only one month before. While some area residents had been involved with the long history of getting the trail built, many in the surrounding neighborhoods didn't know that the trail existed. By working with our partners to host a celebration that included something for and from all parts of the community - free bike repairs and rentals, garden plantings and shows by cheerleaders from nearby Beacon House - we hoped to christen the trail and introduce it to all of Northeast D.C.

Nearly 1,000 people turned out on a hot June day for the celebration, and of the over 200 we surveyed, nearly half had never been on the Metropolitan Branch Trail before. Photos and video (embedded above) can give you a flavor of the day's events, which included salutes to longtime trail advocates, a bike rodeo to teach kids safe riding skills, live music along the trail and a raffle of four bicycles donated by local shop Arrow Bicycle.

Meet the Met is just the beginning. A new listserv connecting neighbors who care about the Met Branch Trail attracted more than 100 members in its first week and a meeting is being held on July 8 to move the conversation from the online world to the real world. Even with community support, this trail faces challenges, such as littering and public safety. But the Met Branch is not alone. As part of RTC's Urban Pathways Initiative, this trail is connected to dozens of others across the nation addressing similar issues, providing a support network to learn about best practices from other cities.

Watch: Richmond, Va., Begins to Build a Rail-Trail

Stephen Miller (RTC) — Tue, 18 May 2010 19:41:00 GMT

Virginia Public Television's Virginia Currents recently aired an episode that spotlighted the James River Branch Trail, a project trail on Richmond's south side. The show's first segment features city of Richmond Council Member Doug Conner and Virginia Bicycle Federation President Champe Burnley speaking about the potential this corridor holds for the neighborhood, and how the proven benefits of rail-trails elsewhere in Virginia can translate to this urban neighborhood.

Portland Cyclists Reach Out to Minority Communities

Stephen Miller (RTC) — Fri, 14 May 2010 14:34:00 GMT

Portland, Ore. - known as a bicycling Mecca but not necessarily a culturally diverse city - has been blending these two issues through the work of the Community Cycling Center's Understanding Barriers to Bicycling project. The center, founded in 1994 to provide bicycle safety and repair education, began the project in 2009. They recognized that many minority community members who would otherwise benefit from bicycling - including reduced transportation costs, health improvement and journey-time reduction - were not hopping on their bikes.

Determined to find out why, the center worked with Alta Planning + Design to complete a literature review of existing transportation research into promoting bicycling among minority communities. The center also completed a community health literature review. While no proven methods to overcome these barriers has yet been found, there has been significant research into identifying barriers among various communities, including low-income populations, women and racial minorities.

The center also conducted workshops and focus groups with various communities of color, including African American, Hispanic and African immigrant groups. The reasons for not bicycling varied between the groups, providing insight to the center on how to best tailor their programming to these various populations. In April, Alison Graves, executive director of the Community Cycling Center, presented findings of these focus groups and lessons learned from community outreach in a seminar at Portland State University. You can watch or listen to the presentation online; it's listed under "April 30."

A Long-Awaited Ribbon Cutting for a D.C. Trail

Stephen Miller (RTC) — Mon, 03 May 2010 20:32:00 GMT

This morning, District of Columbia Mayor Adrian Fenty and DDOT Director Gabe Klein joined neighborhood residents, area cyclists and long-time trail advocates for the ribbon cutting of a key missing link in the Metropolitan Branch Trail. A photo set from RTC features images of today's event.

Residents of Edgewood, Eckington, Brookland and much of Northeast D.C. now have a seamless route to Union Station and downtown that bypasses busy arteries including Rhode Island, New York and Florida avenues. While this ribbon cutting was twenty years in the making, today is only the beginning of the fun for area residents. May is National Bike Month and this month the trail will host commute convoys, walking tours, and neighborhood bike rides culminating in Meet the Met, a grand opening celebration on National Trails Day, June 5. To keep on top of all the happenings, sign up for Met Branch Trail e-mail updates.

The process of completing this trail took a few twists and turns over its many years. In February, we were lucky enough to be joined by DDOT trail planner Heather Deutsch (in photo, with Mayor Fenty) at Urban Pathways to Livable Communities, a conference hosted by RTC to bring together professionals working on the challenging issues that surround trails in urban neighborhoods. Heather presented a short history of the trail and the hurdles it faced during construction. A video of her presentation is below:

Meeting of the Minds on the Met Branch Trail

Stephen Miller (RTC) — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 18:28:00 GMT

Outdoor Afro author Rue Mapp, in town for the launch of President Obama's America's Great Outdoors Initiative, stopped by the Metropolitan Branch Trail for a walk with D.C. neighborhood residents, park activists and cyclists. As contractors worked over the weekend to complete a major new section of trail, the group discussed how to sustain engagement with the surrounding neighborhood and the city's larger African American population after the trail's grand opening celebration on June 5.

Recently, Outdoor Afro hosted a bike ride in Richmond, Calif., aimed to get many of that city's black residents back on their bicycles. Many aspects of that ride can be applied to rides near other urban pathways; for example, having the ride snake through the heart of a neighborhood before going to the trail helps raise consciousness among area residents. When a group of 25 cyclists go by on the street, after all, people tend to notice!

The potential of the Metropolitan Branch Trail to be more than a simple right-of-way also inspired many of the walk's participants. Along the trail's length, there are spots for permanent murals, gardens, bike stations and more. Although construction on this section of trail is nearing completion, the work is just beginning for many who live in the surrounding neighborhoods and care about this trail.

Listen: How to Bring Communities Back to Bicycling

Stephen Miller (RTC) — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 17:51:00 GMT

Keith Holt is currently working to develop Milwakee Bicycle Works, a community bicycle shop. Before moving to Wisconsin, he was an organizer for the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation (now known as the Active Transportation Alliance), where he worked to engage communities surrounding trails on Chicago's South Side. The trail he is most associated with is the Major Taylor Trail. In the clip above, Holt describes some of the hurdles that keep a community from cycling, even if the trail is convenient and resources like maps are easily available. "If you're going through communities that have been disconnected from cycling for decades," he says, "hardly anyone that you really want to use those trails are going to use them. People from other neighborhoods will use those trails. We have to bend bicycling to fit the neighborhood, not forcing the neighborhood onto bicycling. Bicycling is so vast, it's so expansive, it can bend to what the community needs."

Recorded at the Urban Pathways to Livable Communities conference, February 25, 2010.

Never Too Late to Ride a Bike: Reintroducing Cycling to Communities of Color

Stephen Miller (RTC) — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 13:46:00 GMT

By Rue Mapp, Outdoor Afro

On Sunday, 23 cyclists of a wide range of ages and abilities wheeled though Richmond, Calif., in the inaugural Outdoor Afro Bike Ride, a ride with the goal of getting people of color to be visible in both urban and natural spaces, inspiring others to get out and enjoy the simple pleasure of riding a bike.

East Bay Regional Parks naturalist Bethany Facendini provided loaner bikes for those who did not have one and gave talks during breaks with demonstrations to educate the group about the local watershed. Urban Tilth’s Doria Robinson was also on hand to share information about native plants and other fascinating lore about Richmond’s expansive shoreline.

The ride was mainly a flat 12 miles that meandered along the Wildcat Creek line, through neighborhoods, and ended at the San Francisco Bay with sweeping views of Mount Tamalpias in the distance. This ride went farther than many in the group had ever travelled by bicycle. Even more compelling is that several participants were either new bike riders or had not been on a bike in decades. More experienced riders, including two from the East Bay Bicycle Coalition, seemed glad to slow their pace and support the newer riders.

Richmond Spokes, a community bicycle coalition and job training organization, was on hand adjusting many of the bikes that had not seen the light of day in years. Executive Director Brian Drayton assisted on the route and coached less experienced bikers to make small changes in posture and pedaling to help them get more enjoyment out of the bicycling experience.

As we rode through neighborhoods, residents were more than a little curious to see so many people of color riding through on bicycles. But there were frequent cheers and other gestures of support. Participant Delane Sims said, “A black bike ride has more impact on our inner city neighborhoods than we might imagine. It made my heart smile to hear all the love and support via car horns and cheers from our brothers and sisters!”

Comments like Delane’s were echoed by other participants, and a reminder that the most powerful way to get more people involved with outdoor spaces is through role-modeling culturally relevant examples.

Crossposted at Outdoor Afro. Photo courtesy Outdoor Afro.

Watch: South Bronx Embraces a Greenway Before Pavement is on the Ground

Stephen Miller (RTC) — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 14:17:00 GMT

At the Urban Pathways to Livable Communities conference, Miquela Craytor of Sustainable South Bronx presented on her organization's efforts surrounding the South Bronx Greenway, a planned urban pathway through a neighborhood that confronts health, congestion and open space problems on a daily basis. Although pavement for the greenway has not yet been laid, Sustainable South Bronx has engaged the community through job training, trail amenity design, block parties and other events. In this video, Craytor explains the challenges her organization has faced with this project and outlines some of the greenway's initial successes.

Watch: The Story of a Local Trail Effort in New Orleans

Stephen Miller (RTC) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:48:00 GMT

As part of the Urban Pathways to Livable Communities conference in New Orleans, a walk of the Lafitte Corridor introduced attendees to the Crescent City's own urban pathway project. The first stop on the walk was hosted by Bart Everson of Friends of Lafitte Corridor and Daniel Samuels of the Lafitte Greenway Steering Advisory Committee. In this audio slideshow, they provide some background on the history of the corridor itself and the effort to convert it to a multi-use greenway.

Walking Challenges as a Tool to Encourage Trail Use

Steve Schweigerdt (RTC) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 18:23:00 GMT

Walking challenges are a great way to raise the awareness of trails in the community and inspire regular use. A challenge motivates people to join groups and aim for a target number of steps, miles or minutes walking. As participants report their miles, their team can trace progress toward a goal that they couldn't do alone. Hopefully after the challenge is over walking will be a routine for the participants.

Here are a few examples of Walking Challenges on the west coast:

With the completion of the Whittier Greenway Trail in Los Angeles County, Activate Whittier is challenging groups to take the Hollywood Walk to Fame by traversing the country from New York City to Hollywood with star-studded stops along the way to the Oscars. The website has suggested routes with mileage that include 4.2 miles along this rail-trail.
Walk the California Coast with San Francisco's Shape UP Walking Challenge. Challengers join teams and walk 1,016 miles, the equivalent of the length of the California coast, in 10 weeks. If they complete that level, participants can continue their virtual tour across the country or even around the world. The San Francisco Department of Public Health reports that the program has gone viral and gained momentum since inception.
With the Itida-Walk you can track your progress across Alaska as you follow the sled dogs in the Itidarod. Instead of tracking miles, this program tracks minutes of walking, encouraging participants to walk 30 minutes a day for 35 days for a total of 1,049 minutes.

Photo from Shape UP San Francisco.

Rail-with-Trail: Tracks and Trails Can Share the Corridor

Kelly Pack (RTC) — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 15:24:00 GMT

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.