Rails-To-Trails Conservancy features Urban Trails

Urban Pathways News and Updates

• Portland, Ore. - Community Cycling Center Director Alison Gravespresented the Understanding Barriers to Bicycling project at a seminar at Portland State University. As part of the project, the center conducted workshops and focus groups with various communities of color, providing insight on how best to tailor programming.

• Minneapolis, Minn. - Streetfilms produced a video highlighting the city's bike-friendly improvements, including trail network construction and trail programming such as the Midtown Greenway Trail Watch.

• Greenville, S.C. - In a newspaper article about safety on the Greenville Hospital System Swamp Rabbit Tram Trail, trail planners Ty Houck and Brian Graham point to various anti-crime design techniques they discussed at our gathering in New Orleans.

• Washington, D.C. - On the occasion of the ribbon cutting for the newest section of the Metropolitan Branch Trail (pictured), we look back at trail planner Heather Deutsch's presentation on construction challenges.

In addition to news from around the nation, there are new resources and opportunities available to your trail:

Apply for RTCA Assistance by August 1
The National Park Service (NPS) Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance Program is asking outdoor conservation projects to apply for technical assistance from NPS staff. Many urban pathways have received assistance from RTCA, and your project could be next! Visit the RTCA website to fill out an application or contact an RTCA staff member near you.

New Resource: Trail Maintenance Funding
Discover a new section of RTC's Trail-Building Toolbox dedicated to funding mechanisms for trail maintenance. It highlights four urban trails - in Michigan, New York, Ohio and Texas - that have taken different approaches to funding upkeep. The new resource includes documents that can help your trail.
Stay on top of the latest resources by visiting the Urban Pathways Initiative and using our RSS feed . Is there something we're missing or a question you have for the larger group? Let us know in the forums.

State of the City

State of the City - 2010 **Trevor Flynn Lecture at MAG: June 17, 7pm: Re-Envisioning PARK(ing) Day: Idea Generation Workshop at RoCo: Saturday June 26 @ 1pm Exhibition Runs: August 6 - Sep 19, 2010 Opening Reception: August 6, 6-10pm Artists' Talk: August 8, 1pm
State of the City is a group exhibition featuring Trevor Flynn, Amy Casey and Spectres of Liberty. State of the City 2010 engages artists, creative professionals and the public in considering and envisioning the history and PARK(ing) Day - September 17th @ RoCo Originally created by Rebar, San Francisco art and design collective, PARK(ing) Day is an annual, one-day, global event where artists, activists, and citizens independently but simultaneously temporarily transform metered parking spots into “PARK(ing)” spaces: temporary public parks. PARK(ing) Day will serve as a departure point for Trevor Flynn's "Re-Envisioning PARK(ing) Day: Idea Generation Workshop" at RoCo (Saturday June 26th @ 1pm). Rochester Contemporary Art Center will again organize several "Parks" in front of our main gallery on September 17th, including the debut of an all new project by in.site Architecture. PARK(ing) Day website

RochesterGreenway now on Google Maps

I discovered today that the RochesterGreenway (aka Lehigh Valley North Trail) is now showing up on the Google maps bike layer.  

I also scoped out a nice bicycle boulevard route inspired by Richard deSarra's Monroe Bicycle Boulevard Ride.  It goes from Cobbs Creek to Hinsdale to Pinnacle to Crossman to Field to Westerloe to Lac de Ville.    At which point you can jog to Clinton (traffic alert!) to get to the Canal.  I dub this route the Pinnacle -Lac deVille route.

It comes tantalizingly close to Brighton Park, however. and so I've marked an area for future exploration.

Feel free to add to this map!

One more bridge to cross, on foot or bike | 520 - An Environmental Blog | Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

One more bridge to cross, on foot or bike | 520 - An Environmental Blog | Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

Erie Lackawanna railroad bridge!

POSTED BY SORR • APRIL 29, 2010 • 11:14 AM

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The city of Rochester is now soliciting proposals for design of a new walking-biking trail on a bridge over the Genesee River near the University of Rochester.

The 1,600-foot-long stretch of trail would use the old Erie-Lackawanna Railroad bridge that crosses the river from the Plymouth-Exchange neighborhood to the university’s River Campus. It would connect with the excellent trails, much used by runners, walkers and riders, already in place on each side of the Genesee.

If I have the count right, the Erie-Lackawanna span would be the city’s seventh bridge over the river reserved for pedestrians and bikers – a most impressive number, in my view, for a city this size.

Footbridge near Brooks Avenue

How many have you sampled? There’s a spectacular high bridge (built atop a sewer pipe actually) at Seneca Park, a walkway atop a dam at the little-known Middle Falls, the Pont du Rennes at High Falls, the Sister Cities span downtown, the existing footbridge at the UR near Brooks Avenue, and a lovely little crossing at Genesee Valley Park south of Elmwood Avenue

Most if not all are connected by trails, I believe. A bike-rider could cross them all in what? An hour? Somebody try it and let me know. Send me pics.

Back to Footbridge 7 at the UR. If all goes well, the city will hold public meetings this fall, design will be done over the winter, construction will start next spring and the repurposed bridge will open in October 2011. The project will cost about $1.2 million, with the city and New York state splitting the tab.

According to this detailed feasibility study done by Environmental Design and Research for the city and the Genesee Transportation Council two years ago, the bridge was built in the early 1900s, though earlier spans stood in that spot back to the 1850s. The rail line carried passenger and freight traffic between Rochester and Avon, Livingston County, with connections to points south. Erie-Lackawanna discontinued use of the line in 1971, a year before the rail company entered bankruptcy. The bridge has been unused since, except by occasional trespassers, and is now owned by the city.

The bridge as it is now (EDR feasibility study image)

When work is done, the bedraggled span will be transformed. It will have a new deck, be partly repainted, made ADA compliant and will sport ”amenities such as railing, lighting, benches, bike racks, and landscaping,” as the request for proposals put it.

The bridge as it may be (EDR feasibility study image)

Pretty nifty, eh? It should be a nice addition to the ever-growing network of trails in our region.

Oh, and if you’re not clear where these bridges are, here’s a home-made Google map, with the trails near the planned bridge marked as well. You’ll have to find the rest of the paths yourself. Enjoy!

View Rochester’s Genesee River footbridges in a larger map

Here is the project schedule from the Request for Proposals:

Project Schedule  

 Start Work      June 2010
 Site Reconnaissance & Survey   June 2010 – July 2010
 Draft  Alternatives Prepared    July 2010 – August 2010
 Host Citizen Advisory Meetings   August 2010 – October 2010
 Finalize Alternatives     September 2010 – October 2010
 Host Public Meeting(s)    August 2010 – October 2010
 Preliminary Design of Selected Alternative  October 2010 - November 2010
 Final Design & Construction Documents  December 2010 – January 2011
 Bid Process/Issuance of Construction Contracts February 2011 – April 2011
 Construction Phase     May 2011
 Open Bridge      October 2011 

Lynch Woods Park in Brighton

The Lehigh Valley North Trail connects RIT, UofR, and Brighton.  Lynch Woods Park in Brighton spans the area East of the trail from Crittenden Road (to the North) and Brighton-Henrietta Town Line Road (to to the South).  

The Town of Brighton is currently planning a variety of trails and boardwalks to increase usability and access.   

More info at http://www.townofbrighton.org/index.aspx?NID=457

Recent News on the PA side of the Rochester-Williamsport Greenway and the Headwaters of the Genesee River

Allen Kerkeslager reports...

The  North Central Pennsylvania Regional Planning and Development Commission, has  drafted plans for integrating Potter County into a state-wide program for developing greenways in all 67 counties in Pennsylvania.  Included in their ranking is about 40 miles of rail-trails to connect the famous Pine Creek Trail to trail systems along the Genesee River south to the NY/PA state line.  This will bring a fresh infusion of PA state, regional, and local resources to the completion of the Rochester-Williamsport Greenway. 

Most notably, regional planning commission officials have identified the number one priority for trail development in Potter County as the completion a new westward extension of the famous Pine Creek Trail to the sources of Pine Creek (west of Galeton, PA).  At its western terminus, this new Pine Creek Trail extension will connect with another new rail-trail ("the North Border Trail") that will extend southward from the NY/PA border near Genesee, PA, to the source of the east branch of the Genesee River between Ulysses and Gold, PA.  

These two trails will connect near a special site marking the triple divide that embraces the sources of the Genesee River, the Allegheny River, and the Susquehanna River (West Branch and Pine Creek).  Together these two trails will link the current trailhead of the Pine Creek Trail at Ansonia, PA, with a rail-trail in NY that follows the Genesee River south from Wellsville, NY, to the NY/PA state line (the WAG Trail, which was recently acquired by NYSDEC).

The North Central Pennsylvania Regional Planning and Development Commission will hold a public meeting to collect final comments on its draft of the trail systems in Potter County, PA, in the Gunsberger Building in Coudersport, PA, at 1:00 pm on April 15.  

For additional details about developments in the Rochester-Williamsport greenway on the PA side and updates on the Genesee River Wilds Project (www.geneseeriverwilds.org), contact Allen Kerkeslager, Saint Joseph's University, Philadelphia, at akerkesl@sju.edu or (610) 660-1121.

Sustainability Mobility Fair - May 8th Free expo

“Sustainability Mobility Fair - Future Transportation Choices for Short Trips"
Admission is free and open to the public.

When: Saturday, May 8, 2010 from 10:AM - 2 PM
Where: The Center for Student Innovation at RIT, 1 Lomb Memorial Dr Rochester, NY 14623-5698

Attendees will be exposed to what is new and now available on the market and able to experience the latest choices in Electric, Hydrogen, Biodiesel, Natural Gas, Propane, Hybrid, Plug-In, Ethanol, Walking School Buses, and cycling transportation technologies.

All alternative fuel options will be on display. As more commuters become aware of travel choices, we expect to see more of them regularly choosing transportation alternatives because of the benefits. Sponsored by Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and the Center for Environmental Information (CEI).