Category: Bike trails
The federal government is asking states to return a record $3.47 billion in transportation funding, and two groups that advocate for bicycles and trails want to make sure that funding for bike facilities aren't hit the hardest.
Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (they've assisted with 13,000 miles of rail-to-trail projects) and Thunderhead Alliance (bicycle and pedestrian advocacy groups) sent out alerts regarding the federal rescission order from the US Department of Transportation.
States can choose what programs they want to cut, the groups warn, and as they often protect their highway programs, they cut from funds that support bicycling and pedestrian projects. …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2007/03/21/groups-try-to-save-funding-for-bike-trail-projects/
Two possible rail-to-trail projects are on the drawing boards in Washington state — one in scenic northeastern Washington and another in the traffic-choked Seattle suburbs.
One could be a nationwide draw to bicycle tourists who could pick up the trail near Republic and follow the Kettle River 28 miles north to the Canadian border. The other could serve as a north-south bike commuter path from Renton to the Snohomish county line, 33 miles away.
Kettle Falls railroad
The proposed rail-trail in eastern Washington's Ferry County would be the first in the West to connect to Canada's rail-to-trail network …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2007/02/27/progress-on-two-future-bike-trails-in-washington-state/
The Withlacoochee State Trail's 46-mile length makes it the longest rail-trail in Florida and a great route for bicycling.
Featured as Trail of the Month by the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, the path runs between Citrus Springs in the north and Trilby in the south in an area generally between Tampa and Orlando.
While the trail is open to all, its path through small towns, ranches and natural areas of the Withlacoochee State Forest means bicyclists have the trail all to themselves for long stretches …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2007/01/30/bike-trail-in-florida-featured-by-rails-to-trails-conservancy/
Here's one of the best reasons for towns to support bicycling — those sweaty, sunburnt cyclists usually have money in their wallets and they're hungry, thirsty and looking for some off-bike activity.
Small towns across Iowa know this; they compete to be named host cities to 10,000-plus cyclists on RAGBRAI every year.
Cumberland Mayor Lee Fiedler knows it too; he's busy convincing downtown businessmen that the opening of the Great Allegheny Passage will deposit some 250,000 hikers and bicyclists on the city's doorstep this year and they need to keep businesses open on weekends. …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2007/01/26/bicyclists-cycle-tourist-dollars-into-towns/
A 49-year-old New York state man has been indicted on second degree murder counts in two slayings associated with the bike path rapist case.
Buffalo police arrested Altemio Sanchez last week after receiving a tip and DNA samples from a glass he used in a restaurant.
The case gets its name from the series of 11 rapes, and two killings, that occurred on bike paths in the Buffalo, Amherst and Hamburg as far back as 1981. The case went cold …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2007/01/23/buffalo-police-arrest-suspect-in-bike-path-rapist-case/
Construction on a 6-mile bikeway across Lance Armstrong's adopted hometown of Austin is expected to start this spring.
Talk about the Lance Armstrong Bikeway started in 2000, but the plans, access and funding has taken this long for approval. It's expected to be completed in 2008.
Another bikeway in Austin is the Veloway, pictured at left. Allocation of funds made it controversial when it was built in the '90s, but it's said to be well-used now.
For those familiar with Austin….
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2007/01/09/bikeway-in-austin-named-for-lance-armstrong/
Where is it that a main thoroughfare has stop signs, but private driveways have none? At car crossings for the Burke-Gilman trail in Lake Forest Park near Seattle.
For years, bicyclists on the heavily used paved trail have had to stop at numerous driveways and minor street crossings that access waterfront properties on Lake Washington. At times, police have even issued tickets to cyclists who didn't come to a full stop.
Now that Lake Forest Park has upheld this law in Ordinance 951, the Cascade Bicycle Club is appealing that decision …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2007/01/04/bike-group-appeals-decision-to-support-driveways-over-trail/
Bicyclists can celebrate the opening of the final link of the Great Allegheny Passage with a fully supported bike tour that spins from DC to Pittsburgh this summer.
Dubbed the Greenway Sojourn 2007 by organizers Rails to Trails Conservancy, the bike ride takes advantage of 335 miles of unbroken bicycle path comprising the C&O Canal towpath (DC's Georgetown to Cumberland, Maryland) and the Great Allegheny Passage (Cumberland to Pittsburgh).
The bike tour, limited to 500 cyclists, runs from June 23-30, 2007. The northbound tour provides camping …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2006/12/29/bicycle-tour-slated-on-nations-longest-bike-hike-trail/
Ever get tired of waiting for government to act? David Brickley did.
That's why he took it on himself to purchase the rights to a 16-mile railroad right-of-way through King George County and launch plans for the Dahlgren Railroad Heritage Trail as a bicycling and hiking path near Fredericksburg, Virginia.
The Rails to Trails newsletter reports on Brickley, who saw the railbed in 1999 when he worked as director of a state agency. Try as he might, however, he couldn't interest the county's board of commissioners to develop a bike-hike trail.
Fearing the tract might be chopped up …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2006/12/26/virginia-man-saves-railbed-for-use-as-bike-trail/
Virginia has printed up a bicycle touring map for the state that includes major cross-state bike routes totalling some 800 miles, as well as a half dozen or more rail-to-trail bike paths and off-road mountain biking areas.
Bicycling in Virginia is also available online in two .pdf downloads at “full map” and the reverse “trail side.”
One of the main features of the map are the two US bicycle routes that criss-cross the state. Route 1 runs north-south about from the DC suburbs, through Richmond and into southern Virginia. The east-west Route 76 essentially follows the old Bikecentennial (Trans-America) trail …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2006/12/02/bicycling-in-virginia-map/
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