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In the early 1900's there were more than 300,000 miles of railroads
carrying passengers and goods to all corners of the United States.
With the consolidation of railroad companies and the rise of the automobile
and the interstate system this network has now dwindled to less than
140,000 miles. Since as early as 1939, the corridors left behind by
the railroads have been converted into places for people to walk and
bicycle and the Rails to Trails Conservancy estimates that by 1999
there were more than 1,000 trails extending more than 10,000 miles
throughout the United States. |
A shared use path and an active rail line. |
The reasons why are easy to see. Rail corridors are straight, have
gentle grades, and connect communities and the countryside. They provide
a traffic-free environment where users can enjoy scenic views, get
close to nature, rediscover the past, and gain access to downtown
shopping, industrial areas, and new developments alike. Most importantly
for transportation planners, the corridor is already in place and
does not have to be pieced together as it would if the path were created
from scratch.
Rail-trails offer a great many advantages to bicyclists and pedestrians,
and also to the communities through which they pass. However, the
development and design of rail-trails often take many years to complete.
In recent years, there has been a lot of interest in the possibility
of having shared use paths run alongside active rail lines, with adequate
separation and protection against trespassing, and on canal towpaths
which share many of the same characteristics as railroad corridors.
Many of the best communities for bicycling and walking in the United
States feature rail-trails as the backbone of their facility networks.
The City of Seattle has the Burke Gilman Trail; in Washington DC the
Capital Crescent and W&OD; trails link suburban Maryland and Virginia
with the nation's capital; Boston's Minuteman Trail, Tampas's Pinellas
Trail, and the Iron Horse Trail (www.ebparks.org/) in the San Francisco
Bay area each carry hundreds of thousands of users every year.
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