A petition that trail advocates are pushing in Virginia could result in hundreds, if not thousands, of miles of bicycling trails alongside active railroads.
The central idea of the petition is that citizens should benefit directly from railroad projects that receive government subsidies for new construction or improvements.
The Rails-to-Trails Conservancy points out there already are 200 rails with trails projects in the US totaling more than 2,000 miles.
Currently, the Virginia Bicycle Federation is asking Gov. Timothy Kaine to support trails with rails on all major railroad projects in the state.
When I pedaled my aged Rockhopper mountain bike on an out-and-back ride on the John Wayne Pioneer Trail last summer, I had no idea that I was riding the most popular rail-trail destination in North America.
I only saw about a dozen people on bicycles on my 50-mile ride, and no hikers. Maybe the reason was because it was the middle of the week and the trail starts at a park about 35 miles from Seattle.
In any case, based on internet traffic to its 44,000 trails listed at Trails.com, the former railroad grade of the Milwaukee Road is judged the most popular rail-trail. The votes comprise page views, trail downloads and trail rankings ... more»
Falling debris hazards in five John Wayne Pioneer Trail tunnels, including the 2.3-mile-long Snoqualmie Pass Tunnel at left, have convinced Washington state parks to close them until further notice.
The closures are bad news for the many bicyclists and hikers who pass through the tunnels at they hike and bike the 100-mile-long rail-trail over the Cascades from Cedar Falls to the Columbia River.
Shutting down the tunnels not only removes interesting historical landmarks from the Iron Horse State Park, which contains the rail-trail, but requires trail users to take long detours -- sometimes out to Interstate 90 -- to get through the remote area.
A request for funds to repair the tunnels, estimated at $9 million, are included in the 2009-2011 two-year budget cycle ... more»
Trail supporters in New York state are pushing for completion of the Erie Canalway Trail.
Originally completed in 1825 to carry commerce from the Hudson River to Lake Erie, the canal is now the focus of lively towns along its path trying to lure tourism dollars to their communities.
Some 260 miles of bike trails (officially multi-use trails) run through the Erie Canal National Heritage Corridor, which includes the Erie, as well as other historic canals in upstate New York.
Eventually, 366 miles of bike trails are planned between Albany and Buffalo. ... more»
Heavy rains and snowmelt combined last week to flood wide areas of western Washington.
High water devastated the communities of Duvall, Carnation and Snoqualmie in the Snoqualmie River valley, as well as towns located further south, such as Pacifica, Centralia and Chehalis.
These are known haunts for cyclists in the area. The rural roads in the Snoqualmie Valley are ideal for long rides and are the routes for popular summer bike ride events like the Flying Wheels. Centralia and Chehalis are stopover towns for the annual Seattle-to-Portland bicycle ride. ... more»
There's a trail plan underway that would enable bicyclists to visit dozens of Colonial and Civil War-era historic sites from a single off-road trail.
Bicycling advocates and history buffs are working to link 11 bicycle trails in the mid-Atlantic states to create a 185-mile circular historical bike route.
Called the Grand History Trail, the project would fill in the gaps between trails in Maryland, Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia.
Along the way, it would connect the historic cities of Annapolis, Baltimore, Frederick, Gettysburg, Washington and York and points in between, such as Colonial-era settlements and Civil War battlefields ... more»
The East Coast Greenway is a 3,000-mile bicycle-pedestrian route from Calais, Maine, to Key West, Florida.
The route is proposed as an off-road path that links cities along the eastern seaboard. Currently, about one-fifth of the route is on traffic-free paths with more on the way.
But before things get too far along, however, the Greenway wants to establish a set of uniform signs that can be used along its length.
To get some public feedback, the Greenway folks are distributing an online Bicycle Signage Survey that takes 12 minutes to complete (your time may vary) ..... more»
King County (WA) is getting closer to filling some missing links in its countywide bicycle route network.
The latest proposal is a 17-mile trail that links four other bike paths as it rolls between the Puget Sound and Lake Washington south of Seattle.
Dubbed the Lake-to-Sound Trail, the bike path is designed to intersect the Cedar River Trail, the Green River Trail, the Westside Trail and the Des Moines Creek Trail. It will pass through Renton, Tukwila, Burien, SeaTac, Normandy Park and Des Moines. The trail also visits the Tukwila light-rail station ... more»
The Raccoon River Valley Trail in west central Iowa has been dealt a setback in its bid to becoming the nation's longest looping trail.
Already 56 miles long, another 33 miles of trail-building was in line for a state grant until it was diverted to help pay for disaster relief from Iowa flooding earlier this year.
The trail partly uses the old "Milwaukee Road" railroad right-of-way (same at the John Wayne Pioneer bicycle trail in Washington state). When complete, it will be 89 miles long, including the 72-mile loop.
Iowans are very familiar with the famous line from the movie "Field of Dreams": "Build it and they will come." Local bicycling advocates say the new trail will be a boon to bicycle tourism in the region ... more»
A nonprofit that works on behalf of all trails -- including those for bicyclists-- recognized the Underground Railroad Bicycle Route at its annual meeting that ended Monday in Little Rock.
American Trails issued its 2008 Partnership Award to Adventure Cycling Association and the University of Pittsburgh and the Center for Minority Health, who worked together on the project.
The bicycle route takes cyclists along the path to freedom used by many slaves before the Civil War. It stretches 2,100 miles from Mobile, Alabama, to Owen Sound, Ontario.
"Since the route's official establishment in 2007, Adventure Cycling's Underground Railroad Route map sales have been exceptional, with 4,150 maps sold to date ... more»
Some of you might remember my encounter with "long rider" Mark Ryan last month as I was bicycling along the John Wayne Pioneer Trail in the Cascades.
The Associated Press tracked him down and now his story is spreading across the country. The article says that he reached his destination but is stuck in Wyoming after a truck he bought to get home broke down.
When I ran into Mark in early October, he was nearing the end of his 2,000-mile ride from Kingfisher, Oklahoma, to Ferndale, Washington, to visit a friend. He had set out on June 2, and he had ridden Mister Doodles the entire way. His mule, Festus, carried the supplies. ... more»
There are hectic days when the weather is nice, but I just can't get out for a long bike ride. That's when I jump on my mountain bike to ride some trails and finish up with a stop at a local grocery to pick up something for dinner -- all in under an hour.
Part of the bicycle route is on an unassuming dirt path that veers into a second-growth forest behind some homes in neighboring Newcastle.
I never thought much about this dirt trail that dead-ends at a stairway high above May Creek until recently. That's when I found out that this is no ordinary dirt trail.
Merely 1.7 miles long, the May Creek Trail is the abandoned route of a narrow-gauge railroad of the 1800s that connected the lucrative old coalfields of old Newcastle to docks in Seattle. ... more»
Whenever I'm out bicycle riding, I always keep an eye open for passing bicycle travelers who might need some directions or some company. It's how I return the favor to the countless people who have helped me over the years.
I met up with Mark on Friday as I was enjoying an early fall bike ride on the John Wayne Pioneer Trail in the Cascades. Although he wasn't on a bike, I knew he had an interesting story to tell.
Mark and his two companions, Festus, the mule, and Mister Doodles, the horse, had been on the road since June 2 when they left Kingfisher, Oklahoma. He was traveling to see an old friend in Ferndale, so he was nearing the end of his journey. ... more»
There's a suburban legend out there that rail-to-trail conversions drive down property values.
Propose a trail on an abandoned railway and you'll hear fear and loathing from neighbors about loss of privacy, increased crime, traffic and noise, all which will affect property values.
A University of Cincinnati master's degree candidate in urban planning decided put those fears to the test by checking data from a populated section of the Little Miami Scenic Trail in southeast Ohio. Her research concluded that the opposite is true.
Duygu Karadeniz discovered that single family home sale prices increase by $7.05 for every foot closer a property is located to the trail. ... more»
That retort could be rewritten to "What bicycle route?" as the New Jersey Department of Transportation has published three more bicycle route guides to make an even dozen that are available online for cyclists.
The three are Burlington County Bikeways, Cape May Shoreline Ride and Cumberland Salem Revolution bicycling guides. Combined, they offer 168 miles of bicycling through New Jersey .... more»
Bicyclists from Georgia and Alabama will ride to a shrimp boil get-together in a farmer's field at the state line in a couple of weeks to celebrate the completion of the longest paved bike path in the US.
With the paving of the last gap of Georgia's Silver Comet bike path last month, the 61.5-mile rail-to-trail combines with the Chief Ladiga bike path to become the longest paved bicycle path in the US at a distance of 95 miles.
Bicycle enthusiasts will leave from trailheads in Georgia and Alabama that morning and arrive at the state line for festivities, food and entertainment at 2 p.m. Sept. 27.
A budget shortfall in Illinois means fewer off-road routes for bicyclists to enjoy beginning this fall.
The biggest hit to cyclists is closure of the Hennepin Canal Parkway State Park, left, a linear park in northwest Illinois that boasts more than 90 miles of towpath -- 30 miles of it paved -- as it crosses six Illinois counties.
The towpath is a popular route for bicyclists. A portion was used during the 2008 Grand Illinois Trail and Parks bike ride (GITAP) this summer.
Statewide, the Department of Natural Resources is padlocking 11 state parks to save $14 million. The parks will be closed to everyone as of Nov. 1 ... more»
The Burke-Gilman bike trail's 1 1/2-mile missing link in Ballard could open in two years.
Funding for the trail project is included in the proposed 2009-2010 budget for the city of Seattle.
If you're wondering why it has taken so long to complete this section from 11th Avenue Northwest to the Ballard locks, consider the $14.1 million overall pricetag. The city is including $8.6 million in its upcoming budget for the work, and the remainder is to come from King County. ... more»
The blog is looking a little gray, so I thought I'd pull out this photo from this summer's bicycle ride on the John Wayne Pioneer Trail east of Seattle.
Looking at the shadows, I must have crossed the Hull Creek trestle late in the afternoon. The rail-to-trail runs from North Bend to the Columbia River, a distance of more than 100 miles. I just rode my bike the first 21 miles or so to the Snoqualmie tunnel and back that day. Here's a story about that ride.
I hope your bicycling plans this Labor Day weekend include a ride this scenic.
When I pedaled my aged Rockhopper mountain bike on an out-and-back ride on the John Wayne Pioneer Trail last summer, I had no idea that I was riding the most popular rail-trail destination in North America.
Falling debris hazards in five John Wayne Pioneer Trail tunnels, including the 2.3-mile-long Snoqualmie Pass Tunnel at left, have convinced Washington state parks to close them until further notice.
There's a trail plan underway that would enable bicyclists to visit dozens of Colonial and Civil War-era historic sites from a single off-road trail.
The East Coast Greenway is a 3,000-mile bicycle-pedestrian route from Calais, Maine, to Key West, Florida.
King County (WA) is getting closer to filling some missing links in its countywide bicycle route network.
The Raccoon River Valley Trail in west central Iowa has been dealt a setback in its bid to becoming the nation's longest looping trail.
A nonprofit that works on behalf of all trails -- including those for bicyclists-- recognized the Underground Railroad Bicycle Route at its annual meeting that ended Monday in Little Rock.
Some of you might remember my encounter with "long rider" Mark Ryan last month as I was bicycling along the John Wayne Pioneer Trail in the Cascades.
There's a suburban legend out there that rail-to-trail conversions drive down property values. 
Remember that old Saturday Night Live joke?
The Burke-Gilman bike trail's 1 1/2-mile missing link in Ballard could open in two years.
