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If you simply wanna see the map of the trail... https://www.railstotrails.org/greatamericanrailtrail/route/ https://www.railstotrails.org/greatamericanrailtrai

If you simply wanna see the map of the trail... https://www.railstotrails.org/greatamericanrailtrail/route/ https://www.railstotrails.org/greatamericanrailtrail/route/

gibolt 6y ago
There are a surprising number of unplanned segments. Only takes a few weak links in the chain to prevent massive positive infrastructure from reaching completion.
- oh_sigh 6y ago
  I don't think unfinished portions will have any kind of real negative impact(though I would love to see it fully connected). Who is inconvenienced if the trail is only, say, 95% connected? 1) Cross-country bikers. There are so few of these kinds of people that they aren't even really worth thinking about (note: I am one). 2) Local bikers who live near the unconnected portions. Usually the unconnected portions will be either in a) extremely rural areas, or b) extremely built-up areas. If it's (a), then there naturally aren't many bikers for that section anyway, since the population of the area will be low. And if it's (b), there will be more bikers, but also there will generally be alternate routes that are bikeable if you can't go on that exact route. So, all in all, this project is nice regardless of whether it is fully connected.
- bacon_waffle 6y ago
  TransAmerica[1] does well enough with minimal physical infrastructure. I totally agree that it's nice to have a dedicated cycle path but it's hardly necessary for a cycle trail to be continuous. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TransAmerica_Bicycle_Trail https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TransAmerica_Bicycle_Trail
  - choward 6y ago
    That's not what most people think of when they think of a trail.
    - ghaff 6y ago
      Basically no long distance trail is created from scratch. They link together existing trail networks, negotiate agreements with private land owners, use roads as needed, and sometimes just have gaps. That's the case for both hiking/walking and cycling (although cycling trails are probably much more likely to include road stretches).
    - bacon_waffle 6y ago
      The Appalachian Trail is the grandaddy of American long distance walking trails, it is relatively old and was specifically designed to get people in to the woods - even it has bits of road shoulder. While there may be examples of long "trails" in the US that are entirely exclusive of "road", they're certainly not common.
  - chrisseaton 6y ago
    A cycle trail along 'two-lane highways' sounds frightening.
    - oh_sigh 6y ago
      We have one near me that connects Boulder to a nearby city(Longmont). I would never bike on it, but a lot of people do, and as far as I know there have never been any biker fatalities. All of the biker deaths in the past 10 years have come from one lane roads with an unprotected shoulder for bikers.
    - bacon_waffle 6y ago
      I found most of it to be quite pleasant, except a large fraction of Kentucky (and I say that as a former resident) due to the combination of malicious drivers and extremely harsh road design.
- irrational 6y ago
  Wyoming and Montana seem to be the real weak links in the chain.
- ultrarunner 6y ago
  I was curious about this as well. It looks like in some cases, the "trail" is the shoulder of major highways, and the unplanned sections don't show much promise of solutions. I was hoping that unplanned sections were comprised of tracks (decommissioned or not) and just needed a plan to move forward with. Unfortunately that doesn't seem to be the case. I've watched this program for a while, but I don't know that much about it. I work with permitting agencies for local events, and I cannot fathom the scope of a project like this. Hopefully someone else has better insight.
  - ghaff 6y ago
    >the shoulder of major highways As was discussed a bit last time this story came up, one of the issues is that especially in the West a lot of the best passes through mountain ranges already have major roads and/or rail on them. You might have secondary forest roads/4WD roads and trails but those probably aren't great for any distance biking. So, for example, you do see cyclists on I think I-80 in California which goes over the Donner Pass.
    - dboreham 6y ago
      I noticed that the route runs past my place but it's one of those opaque squares presumably because they're not sure how to get over the Bozeman Pass without riding on I-90.
    - maxerickson 6y ago
      In a lot of areas, the through routes end up being major highways, mountains or not. Where I live, the numbered US bike routes all follow big highway shoulders that are perfectly rideable and likely to be awful most of the way. The shoulders are wide and the traffic is high. https://www.adventurecycling.org/routes-and-maps/us-bicycle-route-system/ https://www.adventurecycling.org/routes-and-maps/us-bicycle-...
      - deleted 6y ago
        [deleted]
      - 6y ago

If you simply wanna see the map of the trail... https://www.railstotrails.org/greatamericanrailtrail/route/ https://www.railstotrails.org/greatamericanrailtrail/route/

gibolt 6y ago

There are a surprising number of unplanned segments. Only takes a few weak links in the chain to prevent massive positive infrastructure from reaching completion.

oh_sigh 6y ago
I don't think unfinished portions will have any kind of real negative impact(though I would love to see it fully connected). Who is inconvenienced if the trail is only, say, 95% connected? 1) Cross-country bikers. There are so few of these kinds of people that they aren't even really worth thinking about (note: I am one). 2) Local bikers who live near the unconnected portions. Usually the unconnected portions will be either in a) extremely rural areas, or b) extremely built-up areas. If it's (a), then there naturally aren't many bikers for that section anyway, since the population of the area will be low. And if it's (b), there will be more bikers, but also there will generally be alternate routes that are bikeable if you can't go on that exact route. So, all in all, this project is nice regardless of whether it is fully connected.
bacon_waffle 6y ago
TransAmerica[1] does well enough with minimal physical infrastructure. I totally agree that it's nice to have a dedicated cycle path but it's hardly necessary for a cycle trail to be continuous. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TransAmerica_Bicycle_Trail https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TransAmerica_Bicycle_Trail
- choward 6y ago
  That's not what most people think of when they think of a trail.
  - ghaff 6y ago
    Basically no long distance trail is created from scratch. They link together existing trail networks, negotiate agreements with private land owners, use roads as needed, and sometimes just have gaps. That's the case for both hiking/walking and cycling (although cycling trails are probably much more likely to include road stretches).
  - bacon_waffle 6y ago
    The Appalachian Trail is the grandaddy of American long distance walking trails, it is relatively old and was specifically designed to get people in to the woods - even it has bits of road shoulder. While there may be examples of long "trails" in the US that are entirely exclusive of "road", they're certainly not common.
- chrisseaton 6y ago
  A cycle trail along 'two-lane highways' sounds frightening.
  - oh_sigh 6y ago
    We have one near me that connects Boulder to a nearby city(Longmont). I would never bike on it, but a lot of people do, and as far as I know there have never been any biker fatalities. All of the biker deaths in the past 10 years have come from one lane roads with an unprotected shoulder for bikers.
  - bacon_waffle 6y ago
    I found most of it to be quite pleasant, except a large fraction of Kentucky (and I say that as a former resident) due to the combination of malicious drivers and extremely harsh road design.
irrational 6y ago
Wyoming and Montana seem to be the real weak links in the chain.
ultrarunner 6y ago
I was curious about this as well. It looks like in some cases, the "trail" is the shoulder of major highways, and the unplanned sections don't show much promise of solutions. I was hoping that unplanned sections were comprised of tracks (decommissioned or not) and just needed a plan to move forward with. Unfortunately that doesn't seem to be the case. I've watched this program for a while, but I don't know that much about it. I work with permitting agencies for local events, and I cannot fathom the scope of a project like this. Hopefully someone else has better insight.
- ghaff 6y ago
  >the shoulder of major highways As was discussed a bit last time this story came up, one of the issues is that especially in the West a lot of the best passes through mountain ranges already have major roads and/or rail on them. You might have secondary forest roads/4WD roads and trails but those probably aren't great for any distance biking. So, for example, you do see cyclists on I think I-80 in California which goes over the Donner Pass.
  - dboreham 6y ago
    I noticed that the route runs past my place but it's one of those opaque squares presumably because they're not sure how to get over the Bozeman Pass without riding on I-90.
  - maxerickson 6y ago
    In a lot of areas, the through routes end up being major highways, mountains or not. Where I live, the numbered US bike routes all follow big highway shoulders that are perfectly rideable and likely to be awful most of the way. The shoulders are wide and the traffic is high. https://www.adventurecycling.org/routes-and-maps/us-bicycle-route-system/ https://www.adventurecycling.org/routes-and-maps/us-bicycle-...
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
    - 6y ago