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posted Nov 12, 2018

Celebrating Trails Across America

by Taylor Goodrich with American Trails

Stories from trail enthusiasts of all ages


posted Nov 5, 2018

Best Practices for Trail Management

by Maricopa County Parks and Recreation

Maricopa County (AZ) has put together a comprehensive guide to best practices in trail planning, construction, and maintenance. The 99-page guide includes Planning Objectives for a variety of trail types, motorized as well as nonmotorized. Barrier-free trails are also discussed, along with vegetation management, signs and wayfinding, and many more details of trail development and sustainable maintenance.


posted Nov 5, 2018

Trail design guidelines from city of Toronto

This guidebook benefits from a very clear presentation and covers many examples of urban trail situations. Specific design features for all types of trails and related facilities are included.


posted Nov 5, 2018

Getting Started: A Guide to Planning Trails

by Parks and Trails New York

The 44-page guide covers the key topics: Getting organized, Going public, Trail planning, Integrating natural values and recreational use, and Landowner issues and concerns. This is a joint publication of Parks & Trails New York and Hudson River Valley Greenway to encourage successful trail projects at the local level.


posted Nov 5, 2018

New Zealand Cycle Trail Design Guide

The New Zealand Cycle Trail Design Guide draws on a wealth of trail design and construction techniques from New Zealand and around the world. The goal is to streamline the design process for building sustainable trails that meet the expectations of the target audience, and require minimum ongoing maintenance.


posted Nov 5, 2018

Albany-Hudson Electric Trail Concept Plan

The Albany-Hudson Electric Trail is an important part of the Empire State Trail, providing a key link between the Capital Region and the Mid-Hudson Valley. Since the trail is being developed along electrical utility lines, this plan incorporates design guidelines addressing safety and operational concerns.


posted Oct 29, 2018

Railbanking Under Attack

The Surface Transportation Board (STB) just initiated a notice of proposed rulemaking to consider a rule proposed by opponents to railbanking that would significantly limit the ability of trail proponents to preserve rail corridors for interim trail use.


posted Oct 18, 2018

50th Anniversary of the National Trails System Act

by Leigh Schmidt with Partnership for the National Trails System (PNTS)

The historical events that led us to a robust nationwide movement for trails of all kinds


posted Oct 17, 2018

20,000th Recreational Trails Program Project: Wild Goose State Trail

by American Trails Staff

The RTP Database now houses 20,000 RTP Projects! These projects have received $944,000,000 and have been matched by over $562,000,000, for a total of $1,506,000,000. RTP funding requires at least a 20% match. Please note that RTP funding has leveraged nearly 60% in additional support from other sources of funding!


posted Oct 16, 2018

Power lines along trails

by Stuart Macdonald

Examples of electric transmission lines in shared utility corridors with trails, railtrails, and greenways.


posted Oct 12, 2018

eMTB Land Manager Handbook

by PeopleForBikes, Bureau of Land Management

This handbook was developed in partnership with the bicycling industry and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM), in consultation with professional trail builders. It is intended to be a practical field resource for the planning, design, construction, maintenance, and management of electric mountain bike trails.


posted Oct 8, 2018

Road and Trail Intersection Safety

by Parks and Trails New York

The time has come to learn more about the needs and behaviors of motorists and trail users and ensure that design guidelines and laws and policies governing road and trail intersections fully provide for the safety of this increasingly prevalent type of traffic junction. The purpose of this study is to examine the current state of practice of the design and management of intersections between trails and roadways, gather feedback on road and trail intersection crashes and complaints, raise public awareness of the issue of road and trail intersection safety, and offer policy and design recommendations that will improve the safety of road and trail intersections.