The Great American Bike trail ?

[azrider]

Anybody hear about this?

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/...VttmElvfwJbxjk

[roguedog]

Oh yeah. Totally cool. I believe Canada finished theirs and then there's all the EuroVelo routes


Need time to ride at least some portion of these. Would love to check out the EuroVelo ones. Well I suppose about 5 years ago, did parts of the Canada trails (Kettle Valley, SloCan, TransCanada). Lovely. Would do it again.

[LeMond123]

https://www.railstotrails.org/

Had come across them in the past. Hoping one day for a nice interconnected, a la Interstate style, bike trail system. How cool would that be!

[mike_b]

Originally Posted by LeMond123

https://www.railstotrails.org/

Had come across them in the past. Hoping one day for a nice interconnected, a la Interstate style, bike trail system. How cool would that be!

I've got a RtTs trail behind my house. Love it.

[RWL2222]

Animals can use it too.
My son did his college app on a similar idea, to get over freeways.

[buddybikes]

RtT has been at it since 80s segments here and there are good, then hit "affluent" town and the residents think it will draw bad people and reduce home value.


Will it ever get done, I doubt it without federal mandate

[lavi]

This would be so cool. One strong desire I have is to someday ride coast to coast. I know there are many routes, but following something like this would be great.

I've ridden the American Tobacco Trail in Durham NC.

I've also ridden a portion of whatever cross-state snowmobile trail there is in Minnesota. In the summer, it's amazing! Marking for services and everything. I'd like to just trek back and forth there one summer.

[azrider]

Originally Posted by lavi

This would be so cool. One strong desire I have is to someday ride coast to coast. I know there are many routes, but following something like this would be great.

Right ?!?!

I've always wanted to do the Katy Trail from start to finish (St. Louis to Kansas City).

Coast to coast would be even cooler if it was a protected route such as this.

[mistermo]

Originally Posted by steveandbarb1

RtT has been at it since 80s segments here and there are good, then hit "affluent" town and the residents think it will draw bad people and reduce home value.


Will it ever get done, I doubt it without federal mandate

I live two blocks from a RtT here in Indianapolis. The idea was hatched by local, city government, a couple decades ago. The more affluent community to the north, Carmel, was initially set against it, believing it would draw the urban unsavories into their backyards. However, after seeing it's success in Indianapolis, they wanted a piece of the action and now it's become the centerpiece of the community, with restaurants, $1MM condos, & office along the way. Last year, they doubled the width to accommodate the traffic.

snip from Wikipedia: "In the Indianapolis area, the Monon Trail is used by more than 1.3 million people annually.[16][17] The trail has been cited as having a positive economic impact to neighborhoods adjacent to the trail, including Broad Ripple in Indianapolis and the mixed-use developments of downtown Carmel, which have experienced a large growth in population over the past decade."



Communities along the old rail line, now see it as the asset it is, and are racing to develop it into a draw for their community. State government has also helped pave the way with eminent domain laws for abandoned rail lines.

Point is, around these parts, it was initially slow to advance, but is now embraced and moving forward like a runaway train. Those who thought property values would decline, were flat wrong. It's an asset and any listing close to the line mentions it as a feature. Indiana has done a nice job of developing these RtTs and I don't believe any Fed government assistance has been required. YMMV.

Info

[bikinchris]

Many places are dead set against a RtT coming near their home. We did a ride in Oklahoma like that and everyone along the trail had initially built high fences all along the trail. Then slowly, almost everyone built steps or a gate to allow themselves access to the trail.
But in South Louisiana, the opposition was successful in stopping the trail and then, they went to North Louisiana and stopped a 200+ mile trail from getting built.

Our Arkansas River Trail isn't a rail conversion, but it is SO BUSY on the weekends, we don't ride it.

[unterhausen]

I just don't understand the reluctance of people towards trails. The places that have them clearly love them. Robbers come into town in clapped out pickups, not on bicycles.

I think part of it is they don't think they will used the trails, but that's not true at all. Every trail I have been on has predominantly local traffic on it.

[Ralph]

I remember when Orange County (Florida) was discussing a redevelopment loan for the depressed part of a local town. Then one of the commissioners said "Why don't we build a 14' wide trail thru that area, and the yuppies will flock out there and fix that town up". And it happened...and now it's the West Orange Trail just W of Orlando, going about 40 miles, and is part of the 255 mile coast to coast trail across Florida. And I see tourist there from all over the US and the world....who come to ride in Florida...usually in the cooler months. The county estimates well over $120,000,000 of economic value per year from that investment...as well as all the benefits to the local community....many mentioned in posts above. Trails that go places, and are isolated from traffic are great! Maybe not for training cyclists...but for what they were intended to be....are wonderful.

[2000m2]

Originally Posted by Ralph

I remember when Orange County (Florida) was discussing a redevelopment loan for the depressed part of a local town. Then one of the commissioners said "Why don't we build a 14' wide trail thru that area, and the yuppies will flock out there and fix that town up". And it happened...and now it's the West Orange Trail just W of Orlando, going about 40 miles, and is part of the 255 mile coast to coast trail across Florida. And I see tourist there from all over the US and the world....who come to ride in Florida...usually in the cooler months. The county estimates well over $120,000,000 of economic value per year from that investment...as well as all the benefits to the local community....many mentioned in posts above. Trails that go places, and are isolated from traffic are great! Maybe not for training cyclists...but for what they were intended to be....are wonderful.

This is great! We really enjoyed riding on one of the rail-to-trails near Seattle.

[weisan]

Visiting my daughter at Madison WI during memorial day week, looking forward to riding on some of these trails.

Have done a three-day bike packing trip with a friend on Katy's Trails , highly recommended.
https://forums.thepaceline.net/showthread.php?t=75865

[roguedog]

Oh my gosh. Trails. Can you imagine if we didn't have these last year / now? How many people and families' sanity did they save?

And ya I dig rails to trails. What a cool way to reuse something? And it has history and goes thru towns. A fan of RTT.