More Land & Rights-of-way Resources

Resources and Library:

Rails to Trails

Projects involving the conversion of abandoned
railroad rights of way to trails and greenways;
design, management, legal issues, planning, rails
with trails, and rail trail projects from across America:

Downeast Trail Engineering Feasibility Study from
State of Maine, Dept. of Transportation
Reconnecting Communities: Atlanta Rail Corridor
Assessment, 2004 (pdf 3.4mb)
Building the community into the trail: volunteer
development on the Baltimore & Annapolis Trail
Trails crossing under active railroad lines and bridges (photo gallery)
Recycled railroad bridges on rail trail projects
Tunnels on trails: A Study of 78 Tunnels on 36 Trails in the United States
Railroad rail-- should it be preserved on rail trails?
Photos of rail trail facilities in Michigan

Rail Trail Maintenance and Operation, 2005 (PDF 1.6 Mb)
Study of two successful Canadian rural trails, one on an active irrigation canal alignment and the other converted from an abandoned rail line (pdf 123 kb)
Analysis of the Economic Benefits of the Prairie Spirit Rail Trail (PDF 26 kb)
Rail Trails and Public Safety, 1998 (PDF 284 kb)
Rail Trails and Safe Communities, 1998 (PDF 2 Mb)
Preventing illegal motorized use on non-motorized rail trails
Equestrian use for Maybrook Rail Trail in Dutchess Co., NY
Photos of trails crossing active railroads: http://mbreiding.us/rr_xing/

CA: Projects underway in California
CO: Options for Creede to South Fork rail line
CO: Feasibility study for major Colorado rail-trail
CO: Colorado rail line trail and tourist train proposed
CO: Salida, Colorado, suports rail banking proposal
CO: Possible rail trail may preserve Colorado's 178-mile Tennessee Pass rail line
IA: Iowa: Out front on bike trail
IL: New Chicago parks include elevated railtrail
MA: Squannacook River Rail Trail Environmental & Engineering Assessment (pdf 19.6 mb)
MI: Michigan's Kal-Haven Trail
MO: Walking the Katy Trail across rural Missouri
MO: Scenic stretch to finish new section of Katy Trail
SD: George S. Mickelson Trail opens in South Dakota
NE: Would Nebraska's Cowboy Line trail become nation's longest "Trail to Rail" Project
NE: An overview of Nebraska's Cowboy Trail
NE: Guide to the Cowboy Trail
NY: "Walkway Over the Hudson" is new National Recreation Trail and longest pedestrian bridge
TX: Mineral Wells to Weatherford (pdf 127 kb)
VA: High Bridge Trail features 2,400-foot long bridge
WA: photos of Thompson Trail in Anacortes
Belgium: Rail trail and greenway development in industrial city of Charleroi

Twenty-five years of rail banking: a review and look ahead; hearings by Surface Transportation Board, July 8, 2009
Judge rules Nebraska landowners are owed in rail trail suit
Settlement allows Missouri to extend Katy Trail closer to KC on rail right of way
Owners of properties along Legacy Trail (FL) could collect an estimated $40 million
Judge dismisses lawsuit that held up Great Western Trail
Old rail bridge would be the longest elevated pedestrian walkway in the world

photo: Trestle carries the Montour Trail over a valley

The 960-foot-long McDonald Trestle
carries the Montour Trail over Robinson
Run Valley (photo: Mary Shaw; all rights reserved)

Will to succeed speeds Perkiomen Trail completion, Montgomery County, PA
Missouri Blueways Project: Mapping and Developing Railtrails in Missouri
Norfolk Southern works with Virginia to develop 285 miles of rail trails
A Study of Opposition to Rail Trails and Strategies for Success (PDF 484 kb)
Trails on Trial: the Rails-to-Trails Debate, 1997, from the Indiana Chapter of the Am. Society of Landscape Architects (PDF 4.9 mb)
A Citizens Guide to Rail Trail Conversion (pdf 5.2 mb) by A.Wyeth Ruthven, Palmetto Conservation Foundation
Successful Rail-Trails: An Acquisition and Organizing Manual from Rails to Trails Conservancy
Integrating Rail-Trails into Statewide and Metropolitan Long Range Plans

The federal Surface Transportation Board (STB) is responsible for railroad abandonments
How railroad abandonments work from the STB
Acquiring Rail Corridors: A How To Manual
Reactivated Railbanked Corridors: rail trails returned to railroad service
Railbanking and Railtrails: a legacy for the future (pdf 394kb)
Railbanking: a primer on this essential legal tool for corridor preservation
Sample letter requesting Public Use Condition and railbanking
Basic text required for Public Use Condition and railbanking filing
Analysis of rail corridor legal issues from trail opponents Natl Assn of Reversionary Property Owners
Understanding Environmental Contaminants: study from Rails to Trails Conservancy (pdf 1.6mb)
Rails To Trails: are landowners railroaded? an insightful article by a rail trail opponent
Prairie Spirit Rail Trail: state legal issues in Kansas
Nebraska Board Blocks Bike Trail by Denying Permit and editorial reply, An Obstruction in Sarpy County
Ohio bill would require fencing along planned and existing rail trails
Court denies challenge to financial responsiblity of non-profit trail group (Kansas)
Rail trails face another battle (Fall 1996 Trail Tracks)
Rail trail problems in Indiana
Outlining property rights of railroads
Sample easements, licenses, and other agreements for trail rights-of-way

Rails with trails: corridor sharing by pathways and active railroads (photo gallery)
More photos of rails with trails projects
A Resolution Calling for Rails With Trails in Virginia
Chelatchie Prairie Rail-with-Trail Corridor Study, by Alta Planning + Design 2008 ( pdf 3.9 mb)
Trails and High-Speed Rail: Are They Compatible? by Alta Planning + Design 2008 ( pdf 280 kb)
Rails-with-Trails: Lessons Learned, Literature Review, Current Practices, Conclusions, U.S. DOT, FHWA
Rails-with-Trails: A Preliminary Assessment of Safety and Grade Crossings, November 2005 (pdf 1.4mb)
Rails-with-Trails Design, Management and Operating, 61 Trails Along Active Railroads (pdf 797kb), 2000
Rails-With-Trails: A Progress Report, 1999
Results of questionnaire on rails with trails safety survey, 1997
Rails with trails: summary of safety workshop
Can Trails Reduce Rail Trespass Fatalities?
Sullivan's Gulch Trail Study (pdf 7.8mb) potential trail in a rail and transportation corridor, Portland, OR
Plans for Rail-with-Trail facilities in Marin and Sonoma Counties (CA)
San Diego Coastal Rail-Trail proposes a 44-mile trail along active railroad from San Diego to Oceanside
Can Capital Crescent Trail and Purple Line Co-exist?: transit and trails possibilities on DC Metro system
Rails and trails on the Aspen Branch in Colorado
Trail proposed in MetroLink llight rail coridor, Illinois
Rails AND trails: an idea whose time has come

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Rails to Trails