From Rails to Trails

From Rails to Trails is a history of the U.S. rails-to-trails movement. The book encompasses U.S. transportation development, rail corridor ownership, trail funding, rail banking, economic impacts, and trail infrastructure. The book also discusses future resources needed for rail-to-trail conversion, implementation, and management.

The Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (RTC), of which the book’s author is the cofounder, publishes lots of regional trail guides, but Peter Harnik’s book is the only historical account of the U.S. rails-to-trails movement that this reviewer could find. Harnik was also founder of the Center for City Park Excellence at the Trust for Public Land. His other books include Urban Green: Innovative Parks for Resurgent Cities (Harnik, 2010) and Inside City Parks (Harnik, 2000).

The first four book chapters describe how abandoned rail corridors are ideal as bicycle trails because of their solid construction and low grade. They also give an account of why early railroad development created so many rail corridors, and they trace the history of the use of the bicycle. Chapters 5–7 trace the beginning of the rails-to-trails movement, the role of Congress in creating support legislation, and the early federal development grants that created the initial demonstration trails. Chapter 8 notes the rapid rate of rail track abandonments, which created rail-to-trail opportunities. In chapter 9, Harnik documents how key court cases eventually led to the creation of rail banking, which played a decisive role in preserving a rail corridor for all forms of transportation, including bicycles, enabling horse and pedestrian traffic as well.

In chapter 10 Harnik describes the building of a “political base” at the regional level along with the development of the RTC organization nationally. Chapter 11 describes the development of federal funding—especially the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA), which allowed use of federal highway funds for environmental “enhancement” projects such as rails-to-trails.

The next three chapters address trail development infrastructure issues such as the different characteristics of rural versus urban trails, maintaining bridges and tunnels, and sharing corridors with active rail usage. Chapter 15 covers recent trail development projects, and chapter 16 addresses the issue of trail connectivity plus the concept of larger trail networks. The last two chapters cover the need for appropriate real estate appraisal practices and up-to-date rail corridor statistical databases. It is interesting to note that the one federal agency that was gathering such data was the USDI Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service, which was eliminated by the Reagan administration in 1980.

This book is an easy read and contains lots of blow-by-blow accounts of project implementation, organization building, political strife, and legal issues. It also has great examples of specific rail-to-trail projects. Much of the information in the book derives from the author’s own experience plus RTC documents and information. There is a list of notes for each chapter plus a selected reference list. This is not an academic book but rather more of an organizational and movement history. It serves as a good reference book for those interested in rails-to-trails development plus environmental not-for-profit organization building.