Background and Methods
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This is the first extensive study to examine the benefits and impacts of rail-trails and the first, to our knowledge, to systematically examine both the trail users and nearby property owners of the same trails. It was a cooperative effort of the National Park Service and Penn State University carried out in 1990 and 1991. Its purpose was to furnish information to assist in the planning, development, and management of rail-trails, public recreational trails constructed on the beds of unused rail-road rights-of-way.The study's objectives were to:
- explore the benefits of rail-trails to their surrounding communities and measure total direct economic impact of trail use;
- examine what effects rail-trails have on adjacent and nearby property values;
- determine the types and extent of trail-related problems, if any, experienced by trail neighbors; and
- develop a profile of rail-trail users.
A sample of three diverse rail-trails from across the U.S. was studied:
- the Heritage Trail, a 26-mile trail surfaced in crushed limestone which traverses rural farmland in eastern Iowa;
- the St. Marks Trail, a 16-mile paved trail beginning in the outskirts of Tallahassee, Florida and passing through small communities and forests naerly to the Gulf of Mexico; and
- the Lafayette/Moraga Trail, a 7.6-mile paved trail 25 miles east of San Francisco, California which travels almost exclusively through developed suburban areas. At the time of the study, the Heritage Trail was eight years old, the St. Marks two, and the Lafayette/Moraga was fourteen years old.
Users were systematically surveyed and counted on each trail from March 1990 through February 1991 and were then sent follow-up mail surveys. A sample of residential landowners owning property immediately adjacent to the trails and a sample of those owning property within one-quarter mile of the trails (one-half mile in Iowa) were also surveyed by mail, and real estate professionals in communities along the trails were interviewed by phone. Usable mail surveys were obtained from 1,705 trail users and 663 property owners, and interviews with 71 realtors and appariasers were conducted. Major findings from the analysis of these responses and counts are summarized at the conclusion of this executive summary.
