"Many of the green places and open spaces that need protecting most today are in our own neighborhoods. In too many places, the beauty of local vistas has been degraded by decades of ill-planned and ill-coordinated development."
- Vice
President Albert Gore
January
12, 1999
Vice
President Gore described a phenomenon occurring all over the United States: poor
community and regional planning has virtually eliminated what so many people
desire - beautiful landscapes and open spaces. To counteract the effects of
sprawling development, many communities use trails and greenways to curb
ill-planned growth and preserve ecologically important areas. The result is a
higher quality of life, a healthier environment and more livable communities.
What
are trails and greenways?
Greenways
are corridors of protected open space managed for conservation and recreation
purposes. Greenways often follow natural land or water features, and link nature
reserves, parks, cultural features and historic sites with each other and with
populated areas. Greenways can be publicly or privately owned, and some are the
result of public/private partnerships. Trails are paths used for walking,
bicycling, horseback riding or other forms of recreation or transportation. Some
greenways include trails, while others do not. Some appeal to people, while
others attract wildlife. From the hills of inland America to the beaches and
barrier islands of the coast, greenways provide a vast network linking America's
special places.
For
decades, uncontrolled, scattered development has characterized planning all
across the United States. Farmland and other open spaces are being paved at an
alarming pace.
*
Although the population of the Cleveland metropolitan area fell by 11% between
1970 and 1990, developed land increased by 33%.1
*
Between 1970 and 1990, the population of Chicago's metropolitan area grew by a
mere 4%, while developed land increased by 46%.2
More
communities recognize the detrimental costs associated with sprawl. As a result
of poor planning and limited transportation choices, people waste increasingly
more time and money running errands and commuting to school and work. In
addition, financing sprawling development costs taxpayers money, sometimes
creating significant budgetary crises for local governments.
* In a
1998 study, the American Farmland Trust found that children living in scattered
developments spend the equivalent of 24 school days commuting to and from school
on buses each year.3
* A 1992
study by economists at Rutgers University revealed that infrastructure costs
related to sprawl, such as roads, water and sewer lines and new school
facilities, were going to cost New Jersey residents $1.3 million to keep up with
development plans.4
*
Planners in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota estimate that $3.1 billion will need
to be invested in new sewer and water lines to keep up with projected growth for
2020.5
*
According to estimates from the Texas Transportation Institute, in major
metropolitan areas across the country, the annual cost of congestion per capita
resulting from low density development is $650.6
Local
governments unable to ignore the costs associated with sprawl, and citizens
alarmed by their diminishing quality of life are calling for an end to sprawl.
Many are using trails and greenways to manage development in their communities.
* On
November 3, 1998, voters across the United States approved 72% of 240 ballot
referenda to spend more than $7 billion on state and local conservation
measures. These initiatives will protect and improve farmland, parks, open
space, greenways, historic resources, biological habitats, watersheds and other
related environmental enhancements.7
* A 1998
report by the Center for the Continuing Study of the California Economy found
that conservation of open space and higher density development were essential to
preserve a higher quality of life, which is an important factor in attracting
employers and employees to California localities.8
* A
study in Woodbridge, Connecticut showed taxpayers that it was more
cost-effective for them to buy a 292-tract of land for open space conservation
than to permit new development.9
Small
towns and rural areas are hot spots for vacationers and people in search of a
quieter and more peaceful lifestyle. The popularity of these areas often leads
to development problems. In response, many communities are using greenways to
conserve land and preserve the lifestyles that make their communities so
popular.
*
Residents of Yampa Valley, Colorado are preserving the Yampa River to protect
thousands of acres of ranchland, and they have built the Yampa River Core Trail
as part of an urban greenways program.10
* All
across the country, land trusts are working to protect remaining open space.
More than 1,200 land trusts have saved nearly five million acres of wetlands,
wildlife habitat, ranches and farms, recreation land and other important
areas.11
* The
Stowe Land Trust has protected over 2,500 acres of land in Stowe Valley,
Vermont. Land conservation is important in this popular vacation spot, where
tourism thrives on the natural beauty and picturesque town.12
Trails
are corridors that connect residential areas with retail areas, neighborhoods
with schools, and homes with work. Trails provide safe and pleasant environments
for people to commute either to work or to public transit systems. They also
encourage people to enjoy the outdoors. If planned properly, they can provide an
alternate route for commuting, reducing air pollution and traffic congestion.
* The
planned Gwynns Falls Trails is a 40-45 mile loop that will connect 20
neighborhoods to parks and downtown Baltimore, linking the urban center to the
suburban counties.13
* The
Minuteman Trail, a rail-trail located outside Boston, is a popular commuting
trail used by bikers and walkers to get to work and public transit stations.
The
Walking Magazine selected "America's Best Walking Towns" for their
network of sidewalks and trails, aesthetically pleasing walking environments,
compact and diverse development and "a culture of promoting walking in
citizen activism, civic planning and administration." (Dave McGovern, The
Walking Magazine, May/June 1998.)
Eureka
Springs, Arkansas
Clayton,
California
Boulder,
Colorado
Washington,
DC
Dunedin,
Florida
Portland,
Maine
Boston,
Massachusetts
Exeter,
New Hampshire
Raleigh,
North Carolina
Xenia,
Ohio
Chattanooga,
Tennessee
Burlington,
Vermont
Urban
Revitalization
One of
the greatest challenges for many local governments is revitalizing their cities
and attracting people back to the cities from the suburbs. Trails and greenways
are valued for their ability to connect people with places and enhance the
beauty of urban centers. Famous greenways such as Boston's Emerald Necklace,
Washington, D.C.'s Rock Creek Park, and New York City's Central Park are obvious
examples of planned greenways that add quality to the lives of those living in
these cities. Other cities, such as Providence, Rhode Island and Chattanooga,
Tennessee turned industrial blight into beautiful and useful greenways and
trails along riverfronts. Plans are underway in Birmingham, Alabama to create a
17-mile greenway encompassing Village Creek, which runs through a primarily
abandoned brownfield industrial site. The greenway will include a multi-use
trail.14
Quality
of life truly determines the livability of an area. Americans around the
country, from ranchers and farmers to suburban and urban dwellers, are demanding
that green places be protected. In order to compete for residents and
businesses, local governments realize that conserving open space is a benefit to
their communities. Trails and greenways provide the tools for all Americans to
shape their communities and retain the level of quality that they desire.
"People
said, 'Build this trail and no one will come'...Now commuters use it every day
and families come on weekends to blade and bike and walk."
- Tom
Murphy, Mayor of Pittsburgh, PA talking about the Eliza Furnace Trail.
Erickson,
Donna L. and Anneke F. Louisse. Greenway Implementation in Metropolitan Regions:
A Comparative Case Study of North American Examples. Michigan: National Park
Service, Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance Program, Rails-to-Trails
Conservancy, Southeast Michigan Greenways Project, The Greenway Collaborative,
Inc., and the University of Michigan, School of Natural Resources and
Environment, January 1997.
Lerner,
Steve and William Poole. The Economic Benefits of Parks and Open Space. San
Francisco: The Trust for Public Land, 1999. www.tpl.org/newsroom.
Sorensen,
A. Ann and J. Dixon Esseks. Living on the Edge. Illinois: American Farmland
Trust, Center for Agriculture in the Environment and Northern Illinois
University, March 1998.
The
Sierra Club. The Cost and Consequences of Suburban Sprawl. San Francisco: The
Sierra Club, August 1998, www.sierraclub.org/transportation/sprawl/sprawl_report.
Sprawl
Watch Clearinghouse, 1100 17th Street, NW, 10th Floor, Washington, DC 20036.
Tel: (202) 974-5133 or 5157; E-mail: allison@sprawlwatch.org or sara@sprawlwatch.org;
and Web site: www.sprawlwatch.org.
Endnotes:
1
American Planning Association, "Hot Topics, Paying for Sprawl,"
www.planning.org/info/sprawl.htm.
2 A. Ann
Sorensen and J. Dixon Esseks, Living on the Edge, American Farmland Trust, March
1998, p. 2.
3 Ibid,
p. 5.
4
Kasowski, Kevin, "The Costs of Sprawl, Revisited" Development: The
National Growth Management Leadership Project Newsletter, September, 1992. Cited
in Economic Impacts of Protecting Rivers, Trails, and Greenway Corridors,
National Park Service, Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance, 4th edition,
1995.
5 The
Cost and Consequences of Suburban Sprawl, The Sierra Club, August 1998.
6 Donald
Camph, "How Sprawl Costs Us All," STP Progress, June 1995.
7
Phyllis Myers, Livability at the Ballot Box: State and Local Referenda on Parks,
Conservation, and Smarter Growth, Election Day 1998, The Brookings Institution
Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy, January 1999.
8 Steve
Lerner and William Poole, The Economic Benefits of Parks and Open Space, The
Trust for Public Land, p. 4.
9 Ibid,
p. 8.
10 Routt
County, CO: Holding the Reins, National Association of Counties, Joint center
for Sustainable Communities, www.naco.org/programs/special/center/routt/routt.htm.
11
Lerner and Poole, p. 24.
12 Ibid.
13 Tom
Horton, "Can We Grow Smarter," Land & People, Spring 1999.
14"Village
Creek Regains its Status in Birmingham," Environmental Protection Agency,
Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response, Brownfields, www.epa.gov/swerosps/bf/html-doc/ss_brmng3.htm.
About
the Clearinghouse: The Trails and Greenways Clearinghouse provides technical
assistance, information resources and referrals to trail and greenway advocates
and developers across the nation. Services are available to individuals,
government agencies, communities, grassroots organizations and anyone else who
is seeking to create or manage trails and greenways. The Clearinghouse is a
joint project of Rails-to-Trails Conservancy and The Conservation Fund's
American Greenways Program.
Trails
and Greenways Clearinghouse n 1100 17th Street, NW, 10th Floor n Washington, DC
20036
Toll
free: 1-877-GRNWAYS n E-mail: greenways@transact.org n Web site:
www.trailsandgreenways.org