Benefits of Trails and Greenways

Health

Transportation/Livability

Conservation/Environment

Economy/Revitalization

Historic Preservation/Community Identity

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THE BENEFITS OF TRAILS

TRAILS are developed by communities throughout the country to improve the qualities that make a city desirable for residing, working and playing.  Trails  are a planning tool that eliminate many of the perceived or real conflicts between quality of life and development goals.  In fact, trails make preserving natural areas and expanding recreational opportunities an economic development tool.

TRAILS offer recreational opportunities by providing safe, accessible routes for walking, running, bicycling and other forms of exercise, and for enjoying increasingly hard-to-find natural areas close to home.

TRAILS facilitate alternative transportation by providing bicycle and pedestrian-friendly routes among home, work, and other destinations.  By providing such non-automotive facilities, trails are a part of the infrastructure necessary for an integrated approach to transportation planning.

Collectively trails are critical to every community's quality of life.  In fact, it seems difficult to conceive of a more efficient way to accomplish so many desirable objectives.  And accomplishing these goals is essential to a community's economic development.  Growth must be balanced with protection of our natural resources.