creative. As the Champagne bottle was
being smashed to christen Denton County
Transportation Authority’s (DCTA’s)
A-train in 2011, the people of Denton
were celebrating the reopening of their new
Denton Branch Rail Trail. A busy trail pop-
ular with bike riders, walkers and joggers
now runs alongside the commuter train
line, separated from it by nothing more
than a broad ditch. Hello, rail-with-trail.
A Changing America
For those used to a more traditional
definition of rail-trail, the reactivation
of a rail line on a rail-trail corridor, or
the presence of a regularly running train
adjacent to a trail, is a jolting anomaly.
However, rails-with-trails—trails along-
side active freight, passenger or tourist
train lines—account for 10 percent of
America’s more than 1,800 rail-trails.
They are in the biggest cities and most
isolated landscapes. They are long and
they are short. They run alongside giant,
chugging freight engines and beside
quiet, sleek light rail cars. Like rail-
trails everywhere, rails-with-trails defy
pigeonholing.
And their numbers are increasing. In
2000,
Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (RTC)
recorded 61 rails-with-trails in 20 states.
As of 2014, RTC has recorded 188 trails
in 42 states, a growth of 308 percent.
For many trail planners and advocates,
rails-with-trails represent the next great
frontier.
“
Rails-with-trails aren’t new,” says Kelly
Pack, RTC’s director of trail develop-
ment and lead author of the 2013 report,
America’s Rails-with-Trails: A Resource for
Planners, Agencies and Advocates on Trails
Along Active Railroad Corridors
. “
Part of
the Illinois Prairie Path runs alongside an
active line. But even rail-trail users and
supporters are just now becoming aware of
how common they are.”
Pack says that, in the same way the
rail-trail movement of the 1970s and
1980
s was born from a shift in the
nation’s development away from rail
transportation, the burgeoning popularity
of rails-with-trails reflects the next phase
in the evolution of transportation—a
more built-out environment coupled with
a resurgent interest in urban transit.
With fewer idle rail lines available for
conversion, trail and transit developers
are turning to active lines. And at the
same time deactivations are decreasing,
construction of new transit systems,
particularly light rail, is increasing. So
is the number of Americans biking and
walking, as well as the demand for safe
places to do so. These converging pat-
terns have created a perfect storm for
rails-with-trails.
“
These are rail corridors around which
there is a clear need to provide access
for people walking or riding,” Pack says.
“
They are in busy, populated environ-
ments where people must get from A to
B. On top of that, the success of transit
systems relies heavily on people being
able to quickly and conveniently get to
the stations. The combination of a trail
with new rail systems is a match made in
heaven in terms of urban connectivity,
and that’s why we’re seeing the growth
that we are.”
Heavy Load
While transit rail has been supportive of
rails-with-trails, the story is often differ-
ent when it comes to freight. The handful
of railroad companies that control the
bulk of America’s freight traffic continues
to express formal opposition to the con-
cept of a trail alongside their lines.
Unlike public agencies providing
transit systems, which have an interest in
improving people’s accessibility to their
stations, companies whose business is
carrying freight typically do not see any-
thing to gain from encouraging human
traffic along or near their tracks. Some
of these major carriers, including CSX,
Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF)
and Union Pacific, have policies that
explicitly discourage rail-with-trail devel-
opment. The sticking point is liability:
the threat of expensive legal action should
a person be killed or injured by a train
while using a rail-with-trail.
“
The liability issue is real, and it runs
into the tens of millions of dollars,” says
Charles Marshall, a longtime RTC board
member. Marshall well understands the
Historic Santa
Fe Trail in New
Mexico
Delaware & Lehigh
(
D & L) Trail in
Pennsylvania
Photo courtesy Scott J. Bolanger
rails
to
trails
u
spring/summer.14
10