America's Rails-with-Trails: Safe, Common, and Growing Rails-with-trails (RWTs) - shared-use paths alongside or within active railroad corridors - are being developed in communities across the U.S. Trail managers and rail operators discuss challenges and factors that facilitate successful, safe and accessible co-location of rail and trail facilities. Presenters: Presenter: Kelly Pack Rails-to-Trails Conservancy Co-Presenter: Thomas Baxter Friends of the Riverfront Co-Presenter: Jerry Walls FAICP, Chairman, SEDA COG Joint Rail Authority Board

1. Rails-with-Trails: Safe, Common and Growing

2. 1916: 275,000 miles
active railway

3. Rail-trail history in U.S.

4. Today: 138,000 miles active

5. York Heritage Trail, PA
20,000+ miles of open rail-trails

7. Cedar Lake Trail Minnesota
RWT = shared-use path on or directly
adjacent to active rail corridor

8. Schuylkill River Trail
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

9. M Path
Miami, Florida

10. Metropolitan Branch Trail
Washington, D.C.

12. Rails-with-Trails

13. Springwater Corridor, Oregon
2013 Rail-with-Trail Report
•PA DCNR funded
•National scope
•88 Trail managers from 33 states participated
•Tool for trail managers and advocates

14. Cotton Belt Trail, Texas
•217 trails (nearly 10% of rail-trails)
• 2,221 miles (39% parallel to rail)
•42 states
Rails-with-Trails are Common

15. Rails-with-Trails are Growing
60+ rails-with-trails in development
Five Star Trail, PA

16. Traction Line Recreation Trail, New Jersey
Rails-with-Trails are Safe
Two known fatalities involving trail user & train on RWT: South Bay Trail in Bellingham, WA (2008); Santa Fe Rail-Trail, New Mexico (2014)

17. Green Bush Link Wisconsin
Crossings

18. *Multiple crossing types were reported for some trails

19. North Coast Inland Trail, Ohio
Separation (Barriers)

20. *Several trails reported multiple barrier types

21. MLK Promenade San Diego, California
Setback

22. Charlotte Trolley Trail
North Carolina

23. Watts Tower Greenway California

24. San Clemente Beach Trail
California

25. *Multiple types of service exist along many RWTs
Legal issues:
Ownership

27. Policies & Encouragement
•Recreational use statutes (VA, ME)
•State agency policies (MassDOT; NJDOT)
•Design standards (SEDA-COG, PA)
Eastern Promenade Trail Maine

28. What Next?
•Convene advocates, agencies & railroads
•RTC research agenda
–Trespassing
–Access to transit
•Share YOUR lessons learned
Cedar Lake Trail Minnesota

29. Great Allegheny Passage

30. Great Allegheny Passage Pennsylvania and Maryland

31. Schuylkill River Trail, Pennsylvania
Kelly Pack
kellyp@railstotrails.org
railstotrails.org/railwithtrail