Rail-trails gather steam

When transportation funds are mentioned, most community leaders think of building highways and interstates, but a growing number of cities and counties across the United States are setting a different trend. Residents are telling their legislators and city representatives that they want alternatives to concrete and congestion. Those communities are using abandoned rail corridors, which normally sit unused or are sold off in sections, to create trails. Rail-trails can be used for bicycling, walking, in-line skating, cross-country skiing or horseback riding. Some rail-trails preserve historic landmarks, and others help preserve wildlife.

Rail-trails are not new, but since the 1980s the number of trails has increased because of federal and state legislation allowing for alternative transportation spending. According to Karen Stewart, director of communications at Washington, D.C.-based Rails to Trails Conservancy (RTC), more than 1,200 rail-trails, totaling about 11,000 miles of converted track, have been completed since the 1960s. The trails have been built in rural and urban areas alike, using a variety of funding and construction methods.

ISTEA refreshes growth

Because transportation funds have traditionally been used to build highways and transportation systems, trail supporters have had a difficult time convincing some government officials to allocate funds for alternative transportation methods. The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA), signed into law in 1991, has made it easier by giving state and local governments latitude in spending the money. Additionally, the legislation includes language mandating that recipients spend 10 percent of their surface transportation dollars on transportation enhancement activities. City transportation enhancement funds can be used to build trails as long as 20 percent of the project budget is raised locally.

Longleaf Trace Trail, a converted rail corridor that stretches 39 miles from Hattiesburg, Miss., to Prentiss, Miss., benefited from that provision. In 1994, two retired attorneys, Stone Barefield of Hattiesburg and Bobby Garraway of Bassville, wanted to use federal funds to convert an abandoned Illinois Central rail line into a trail. The lawyers worked to pass a bill in the state legislature that would allow counties and cities in Mississippi to form recreational districts, which would qualify for ISTEA funding.

Supporters of the bill hoped that recreational districts would be able to raise the 20 percent of funds that were necessary to use ISTEA money for trail construction. After the bill was passed in 1994, several residents worked to encourage the formation of a recreational district between the four cities and three counties that ran along Longleaf Trace Trail.

James Moore, trail advocate and owner of a bike shop, became the lead spokesperson for forming a recreational district and building the trail. “The trail was a much needed addition to the area,” Moore says. “We are not a very bike-friendly area. There are no bike lanes or trails. We have a state park, but, as far as getting into nature quickly, this met that need.”

Moore traveled through the counties, giving speeches to civic and business organizations. From those organizations and other private entities, the group raised $160,000 before it approached cities and counties to ask them to form the recreation district.

The four cities and three counties along the rail line agreed to join the coalition and invest public funds in the venture. Each county agreed to contribute a total of a quarter of a mil for the trail. With the $160,000 already in hand, the counties’ contributions brought the total amount to $520,000, giving the $2.5 million project the 20 percent in local funding it needed to use ISTEA funds.

The Mississippi Department of Transportation purchased the rail line from Illinois Central and leased the land to the recreation district. The trail, which opened on Labor Day 2000, took nearly two years to complete. Its opening brought a surge of tourism to the area.

“All of a sudden, towns with 300 and 1,200 people have new businesses,” Moore says. “It was difficult, but in the end it was so worthwhile. When I go out there, I see kids and mothers with their children. It is a place where they feel safe. We have had nothing but positive feedback, and it has been very much worth the hard work.”

Banking on the right-of-way

In many cases, railroads are supportive of rail-trails because they allow the rail corridor to remain intact should the railroad ever need it in the future. Railbanking, a process that grants a trail group temporary control of an abandoned corridor, has become a common practice since it was established through 1983 amendments to the National Trails System Act.

A railroad company may sell, donate or lease an inactive corridor to a trail agency that will assume taxes, legal liabilities and maintenance of the corridor. According to the act, the railbanked lines will remain intact because they are treated as if they had not been abandoned. The Surface Transportation Board retains control of the railroad right-of-way.

Congress passed the act to protect the corridors for future rail lines, which would take precedence over the interim trails built on the corridors. Because of increased freight traffic, a few railroad companies have repossessed rail corridors that have been railbanked.

Georgia took advantage of railbanking when the state Department of Transportation paid $7 million for a 57-mile railbanked trail that runs through Cobb, Paulding and Polk counties. The counties partnered with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, which leased the land on which the counties created a state trail.

“In the past, a railroad would abandon a corridor, and farmers would buy it piece by piece,” says Ed McBrayer, executive director of Atlanta-based PATH, a non-profit organization that promotes greenways. “Suddenly, it is strips of land instead of a continuous corridor.”

The counties created the Silver Comet Trail to preserve the corridor and to provide recreation resources for their residents. (The trail is named for the Seaboard Coast Line passenger train that operated in the corridor.) Construction began in 1993, and 37 1/2 miles have been completed. Ultimately, the trail will reach Anniston, Ala.

Trail controversy

Despite their popularity with preservationists and railroad companies, rail-trails have been known to spark conflict. Because valuable land is in question, with many groups and individuals claiming rights to the outcome of the land, controversy is inevitable.

When the B & O Railroad abandoned an 11 1/2 mile corridor in 1985, many groups, including an historical society that wanted to preserve the rail line and another group that wanted to install a light-rail line, had plans for the unused corridor. The Coalition for Capital Crescent Trail in Silver Spring, Md., lobbied for a trail. The process was not easy.

Residents who lived near the rail line had expressed concern about traffic and crime if a trail were built. “Neighborhood communities tend to be nervous with anything they are not familiar with,” says Wayne Phyillaier, president of the coalition. “The key is to get them on board, show them a vision and give them an opportunity to express their views and participate in the process.”

The coalition took steps to garner support for the trail. Members visited local communities and civic associations to present their vision of the trail and showed 40 to 50 slides of other trails and pictures of the right-of-way in its current condition.

With the help of RTC and the Washington Area Bicyclist Association, the trail coalition lobbied the National Park Service and the Montgomery County government to build the trail. Convinced that the idea was worthwhile, Montgomery County purchased the railbanked corridor from Silver Spring to the D.C. line in 1988 for $10.5 million. The following year, a local businessman acquired the remaining land and leased it to the National Park Service, which purchased it in 1990.

Local utility Potomac Electric Power and Project Open Space, a non-profit organization in Montgomery County, joined other groups to provide 20 percent of the project budget; the county also received $867,000 in ISTEA funds. The Washington, D.C., section of the trail was constructed and is managed by the National Park Service.

Seven miles of the Capital Crescent Trail have been paved and completed. The trail connects two national park trails – the C & O Canal and the Rock Creek Park Trail. Because the trail also connects Washington, D.C., with its suburbs, commuters use it. “The trail is a good alternative to being stuck in the busy streets,” Phyillaier says.

What happens to the remaining three miles is a hotly contested issue between those who want to extend the pedestrian/bike trail and those who want to install a light rail line. While officials are determining its fate, the stretch is serving as an interim trail.

Despite the conflict and hard work involved, communities that attempt rail-trail projects are rewarded for their hard work, Phyillaier says. “When we first built the trail, people were worried,” he says. “Now, people have found that it is a great recreational asset.”

Communities that want to preserve rail lines and provide additional recreation opportunities for their residents are continuing to build rail-trails; about 1,200 projects are currently under way. Although the trails require hard work and innovation, communities attest that the end result is well worth the effort.

Rails to Trails Conservancy, Washington, D.C., offers information for communities interested in building rail-trails. Visit the organization’s Web site to get information on existing trails; to obtain technical information and resources for building trails; or to obtain information about federal funds available for rail-trail development.