
filed under: trails as transportation
Act now to get your shovel-ready trail project into your Representative's earmark process.
The reemergence of earmarks in the infrastructure and appropriations process in Congress is creating huge opportunity for trail projects that are ready to go.
Do you manage a trail project that is ready to go within the next 5 years, and is in need of funding. The next two weeks provide an opportunity for you to reach out to your representative to ask for your project to be included in their priority list.
The U.S. House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee has issued guidance about earmarks available for local transportation priorities. The committee is inviting all members of Congress to submit specific “Member Designated Projects” for inclusion in the surface transportation reauthorization currently being drafted. As such, the timeline is very short, and projects will only be accepted between April 1 and April 16. (Note that this process is separate and distinct from the House Appropriations Committee earmarks.)
Watch the March 31 Webinar put on by Rails-to-Trails Conservancy on how you can use the earmark process to promote investments in trails and active transportation networks in your community.
In order for your project to be considered by the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, you need to act fast by reaching out to your representative ASAP to find out what their process is for adding projects to their priority list and asking them to submit it to the T&I Committee by the April 16 deadline. Your project will need to meet the following criteria:
You can also consider adding your project to the Trails Move People Shovel-ready Project Database to get it added to future advocacy around this effort.
Add Your Project to the Trails Move People Shovel-ready Project Database
Trail projects will compete against other transportation projects (i.e. roads and bridges), however, they MAY be very competitive because:
Published March 2021
Recreational Trails Program Highlight: Tennessee State Parks Tires to Trails Program
Tennessee State Parks Win National Award for Tires to Trails Program
Recreational Trails Program Highlight: Brighton Park, Ohio
Brighton Park, formerly the Henninger Landfill, was a construction and demolition debris landfill in the Old Brooklyn neighborhood of Cleveland that ceased operation in the 1980s.
Recreational Trails Program Highlight: Prison Hill 5th Street Trailhead Project, Nevada
Visible throughout Carson City, the approximately 2,500 acre Prison Hill Recreation Area has been set aside and dedicated as open space for the community of Carson City.
A Call for Expanding Trails Research
Trails research can help support trail management decision-making and funding by providing objective, quantitative information describing trail users, their numbers and demographics, preferences, and economic expenditures.