Rail Trails

Rail trails—abandoned rail corridors that are repurposed as trails for walking and biking—are increasingly common in the United States and Australia. In cities, rail trails are designed as linear parks, as bicycle superhighways, and as neighbourhood connectors. They function as both active transportation corridors and public space. In this way, they can reproduce aspects of historic urban streets, which were transportation corridors but also spaces for promenade, socialising, and shopping.
This thesis examines urban rail trails through this potential as a new kind of city street. This potential is significant, as American and Australian cities struggle to integrate active transportation and to create public spaces that are lively and safe and that contribute to the social and economic life of the city. To analyse rail trails as both transportation and public space, this thesis develops a framework of urban vitality. Urban vitality is defined as a character of a space that encourages economic and social interaction between people.
This framework of urban vitality is explored theoretically and practically through the development of three agents: First, territorialisation is the control over a physical space by a government, business, organization, or group; and the imposition of particular set of rules, meanings, and order to the space. Second, friction describes the physical, visual, and social interaction of people and places. These interactions are key to the creation and maintenance of a vibrant public sphere where individuals can come together to form communities. Third, looseness describes spaces where physical design, uses, and management contribute to a sense of freedom and possibility. Loose spaces are marked by a physical environment that can be modified and appropriated; a flexible (or non-existent, or vague) set of guidelines or regulations for the use of the space; and a resultant awareness or tolerance for overlapping and conflicting views. These three agents are independently increased or decreased in urban space through physical design, management practices, and everyday use. They interact with each other, reinforcing or conflicting with each other in different circumstances.
This framework of urban vitality and the agents of territory, friction, and looseness are used in the analysis of three case study rail trails in the United States: The Burke-Gilman Trail in Seattle, Washington; the Midtown Greenway in Minneapolis, Minnesota; and the BeltLine in Atlanta, Georgia. The case study trails represent a diverse cross section of urban rail trails, varying by age, by design, and by their relationships to the surrounding urban fabric. The case study analysis leads to a generalised set of observations and findings on creating urban vitality in urban rail trails and other urban public spaces.

Notwithstanding the contemporary significance of rail trails as recreational and tourism assets, studies focusing particularly on these multi-use trails have been sparse. This paper presents a contribution to this gap, proposing a model of rail trails as tourism products in an attempt to provide a conceptual basis for rail trail management, planning and research. Examining the Otago Central Rail Trail using this model indicates a potential for rail trails to be established as sustainable tourism products and assets to the adjacent communities. We conclude that the model, despite its limitations, provides useful information that may help managers to better understand and further develop the benefits derived from rail trails.

Ever wonder what it would be like to hike 2,174 miles from Georgia to Maine along the world’s longest continuously marked footpath? Join “Marathon” as he provides a humorous autobiographical account of a “real” walk in the woods. Anyone who enjoys travel or adventure will love Marathon’s story. This book is required reading for any outdoor enthusiast and will certainly assist anyone wanting to plan an Appalachian Trail (AT) section or thru-hike. Live vicariously through this entertaining account, which includes over 350 accompanying pictures. This book is the culmination of 34 articles that were written for the author’s hometown newspaper as he thru-hiked the entire AT. All articles were written while still on the trail. Appendices also include the author’s daily mileage and location log, his thru-hike equipment list, a suggested AT readings list, and a comprehensive collection of reflective thoughts and suggestions by another AT thru-hiker, “Bonespur.”

The City of Hoquiam and the Grays Harbor Public Health and Social Service Department have engaged students from the University of Washington Master in Public Health (MPH) Community-Oriented Public Health Practice (COPHP) to conduct research on rail-to-trail programs existing in Washington State and throughout the United States. It is intended that this trail be a possible option to increase physical activity in Hoquiam by using abandoned railroad lines to create walking and biking paths for community members, thereby improving health outcomes of Hoquiam while also lifting community pride and morale.

Written with Omid Bagheri, MPHc; Maya Berkowitz, MPHc; Michelle Chapdelaine, MPHc; Cait Lang, MPHc; Emily Turk, MPHc; Chloe Winther, MPHc; and Nalani Yoko, MPHc

Urban greenways are increasingly seen as sustainable infrastructure initiatives designed to catalyze economic development, urban renewal and healthy cities. However, there has been little consideration for how the racial and socioeconomic composition of neighborhoods influence resident support for greenways. This is important due to documented divergent racial preferences for recreation and the potential paradoxical impact greenways can have on gentrification. Hence, this study assessed resident perceptions of the Atlanta BeltLine in two neighborhoods differing in their racial and socioeconomic composition. Using a theoretical framework grounded in social exchange theory and Weber's theory of formal and substantive rationality, results from 418 surveys (600 distributed) revealed that in an affluent, majority white neighborhood, the BeltLine was supported more by residents, with residents indicating greater use of the trail and higher levels of psychological empowerment than residents of a less affluent, majority African American neighborhood. Despite these differences, support for the BeltLine was found to be a function of the same factors of frequency of use, perceived economic benefits and perceived psychological empowerment across both neighborhoods. Results suggest that residents generally form their opinions of urban greenways in a similar fashion even though the model explained more variance in the majority white neighborhood (68% vs 57%), highlighting the need for future research to investigate other factors that may influence why African Americans support or oppose urban greenways in their neighborhoods. Implications are discussed for urban planners, who have the difficult task of developing urban greenways within heterogeneous cities.

This study, undertaken in rural New Zealand, discusses issues involved in enhancing linkages between an existing rail tourism product and a cycle tourism product. The paper assesses demand for such a development and gauges current and potential future connectivity between the two products. The paper draws on a survey of train passengers and rail trail visitors, along with interviews undertaken with key tourism and community stakeholders in relation to the rail trail.  The data highlights problems around product development and integration. While participants agree that an enhanced link between the railway and the rail trail will be of benefit for all those involved with tourism in the region, stakeholders who currently benefit from the current (unenhanced) links between the two tourism products are hesitant about improved connectivity because of concerns centred around community growth management. Conversely, other stakeholders support enhanced rail/trail connections, lending weight to social exchange premises which infer that attitudes towards a particular issue are influenced by evaluations of the real and expected outcomes for individuals or their communities. The paper highlights the complexities around the multi-stakeholder nature of managing such linear routes, especially in rural communities where the benefits and drawbacks of tourism developments are strongly felt.

Bioassay guided separation of Sida acuta whole plants led to the isolation of an alkaloid, cryptolepine (1), along with two kaempferol glycosides (2–3). Compound 1 showed strong activity in overcoming TRAIL-resistance in human gastric adenocarcinoma (AGS) cells at 1.25, 2.5 and 5 μm. Combined treatment of 1 and TRAIL sensitized AGS cells to TRAIL-induced apoptosis at the aforementioned concentrations. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Multi-use trails are becoming an economic catalyst and vital contributor to the quality of life for communities all across the nation. This document looks at key factors as to why this is, and takes these factors as a basis into a case study on the Tammany Trace (the ‘Trace’), a 31-mile rail-to-trail conversion in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana. The study looks into how the region and local communities have benefited from the facility by collecting data from the following methods:
• Spatial data for existing infrastructure in the region to create, study and compare maps
• In person interviews to local leaders
• Collecting existing yearly trail user numbers
• Intercept surveys to users of the trail over 3 days
• Housing property value comparison GIS map study
• Telephone surveys to local real estate professionals

Mapping the trail and specifically 3 chosen trailheads, along with qualitative feedback from interviewing city mayors and aspects of intercept surveys, reveals how these trailheads are the community focal points and gathering places of each city, contributing to the high quality of life and health factors that St. Tammany parish leads the state in. Correlating the Trace yearly user numbers, along with breaking down different aspects of quantitative answers from spending and use habits from the intercept surveys also revealed economic benefit numbers to the local and regional economies associated with using the Trace. The yearly estimated economic benefits are $3.356 million for direct spending and $3.9 million for indirect spending. Finally, the Trace may or may not factor into more desired and/or higher home values when adjacent or close to the facility currently, but it is favorable that newer generations and retirees may increasingly seek to be closer to the trail. Also included is a a Lessons Learned chapter conveying insight from my process of evaluating the Tammany Trace and other trail facilities to bring guidance for municipalities and regions that want to implement and/or improve their own successful trail facility.

As the literature on trail development suggests, recreational trail projects can generate conflicts and controversies, particularly when built on abandoned rail corridors through developed areas. These conflicts are often understood as ''not in my back yard " (NIMBY) reactions, suggesting a spatial proximity to conflict which increases as one draws closer to the proposed trail. This research seeks to understand local residents' perceptions and reactions to recreational trail development in the City of Delaware (Ohio, USA). It addresses two spatially infused questions: Does the potential for conflict related to trail development increase as people live closer to a potential trail (the NIMBY factor)? Can important qualitative factors about favorable and unfavorable land uses including potential recreational trail sites be defined using a participatory methodology and then represented in GIS? The study used a mixed-method approach to collect and analyze qualitative data from a group of local residents. Each participant was interviewed and asked to sort 19 pictures related to trail development. After each of the sorts, participants were asked to explain why they ranked the pictures the way they did. Results of the picture sorts were then analyzed using Q method and mapped with GIS. The results show that spatial proximity matters in the context of trail development and potential NIMBY reactions to trails. Significant differences were found in the picture sorts that reveal the importance of proximity and location, although in a manner contrary to the assumptions in the writings on rails-to-trails. Through combining qualitative methods, Q analysis and PPGIS analysis, the research shows that qualitative place-based studies are capable of generating insights about the complexities of situated geographic change such as recreational trail development.