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SALT LAKE CITY — An ambitious plan for a biking and walking route stretching from Washington, D.C., to Washington state without using a road has been in the works for several years.
Bits and pieces of what's known as the Great American Rail-Trail have connected paths in several states, but as of last year, about 55% of the planned 3,700-mile path was complete, according to Rails to Trails Conservancy.
But the Biden administration has a new grant program that for the first time authorizes not just building trails but connecting existing ones, per the Associated Press. The 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law allocated as much as $1 billion over five years for the program, but Congress has distributed less than $45 million so far. The program started accepting applications Tuesday.
"The number is not as big as we want it to be, but the fact it's happening is huge," Brandi Horton from the Rails to Trails Conservancy told the Associated Press. "The administration is understanding in a way we've never seen before the role that active transportation has in helping people get around the places where they live."
Gaps in the trail
Federal Highway Administrator Shailen Bhatt said active transportation options provide health benefits and are as important as electric vehicles in limiting greenhouse gas emissions. He recalled biking along trails on the East Coast when he was Delaware's transportation director and seeing some of the unsafe gaps in the system.
"Unless we have these networks fully developed, many people won't be able to take advantage of it," Bhatt told the news outlet.
Officials are expecting a highly competitive grant process including applications from many of the communities along the planned Great American Rail-Trail. While the project currently includes more than 125 completed trails across 12 states and the nation's capital, significant gaps remain — particularly in rural Western states such as Montana and Wyoming.
Amanda Cooley, a leader of an initiative to close western Montana's trail gaps, said residents often don't understand the importance of such projects until they're done.
"When you go to a place like Deer Lodge, Montana, people still wave at you at the stop light," Cooley told the Associated Press. "The pace of life is just a little slower. When you're a pedestrian or on a bike, it allows you to experience more. It allows you to take more in instead of just flying by."
Connecting the country
Starting (or ending) at the National Mall in Washington, the route traverses iconic landscapes, crossing the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River. Further west, it ascends the Continental Divide east of Butte, Montana, and travels along the Puget Sound in Seattle, before reaching the Pacific Ocean at La Push, Washington.
Since the route was initially developed in 2019, nine of the 12 states have introduced new trail segments, totaling 113 miles. Public and private funds secured for the project totaled $117.5 million as of last year, according to Rails to Trail Conservancy.
Old rail lines make up the key arteries for the Great American Rail-Trail, but many of the proposed connectors present unique and costly challenges. Ohio and West Virginia have made progress toward completing their trail networks, but the Ohio River separating them is a potential obstacle for both states that could cost at least $35 million to span, per the Associated Press.
In 2015, South Korea completed the 4 Rivers trail system, a paved, vehicle-free path covering more than 1,000 miles, including a 380-mile route from Incheon in the north to Busan in the south. The massive initiative aimed not just to create bike paths but to provide a comprehensive solution to water scarcity and flood control, foster balanced national development and promote eco-friendly growth. It involved dredging, construction of weirs and bike paths, riverbank consolidation and ecosystem restoration. The project cost an estimated $19 billion, though the specific cost of the bike paths isn't available.
