Posted on 05/09/2019 5:23:46 AM PDT by SJackson
Amen.
The is a rather large rail to trail in my area and it runs thru my township. This one is the Delaware and Lehigh (D&L) Trail. It consists of two historic canals (the Delaware Canal and the Lehigh Canal) and a few abandoned railroad beds. Two separate sections are state parks, the Lehigh Gorge and the Delaware Canal state parks. The entire trail which is at this point 140 miles long is under the supervision of the D&L National Heritage Corridor.
I use the trail often and it runs thru some of the most scenic areas of eastern Pennsylvania. That said it is also a money pit. The D&L organization makes all kinds of promises and takes a lot of credit for the work of others.
There are several big gaps in the trail and roughly 15 miles (5 at the beginning and 10 at the end) that the ultimate route hasn’t been determined. There are a few gaps that exist due to major road/bridge projects that will not be finished for another 4 or 5 years. That is of course not the fault of anyone except PennDOT. But what really bugs me is a newly built bridge in Jim Thorpe PA that will one day close arguably the most difficult gap on the entire trail.
The bridge, which cost over 3 million dollars was completed last June and dedicated during the last of the RTC sojurnes (The RCT is the organization that released the article in the OP). People pay over $1000 each to ride in the sojurnes they got to use the bridge, it was opened for 3 hours then closed since then 11 months ago. They are “working” on a 1.1 million dollar connector trail, 3/4 miles long to connect the bridge to the existing Lehigh Canal. The date to finish the connector keeps getting pushed back, currently its June 30 but there is about a 1 percent chance the work will be done by June 30.
When it is all said and done the bridge and connectors will end up costing over 5 million dollars. The bridge if it opens this year will be over 3 years behind schedule and 2 million over budget. The Heritage corridor has been telling business for years to start expecting armies of bicyclist with tons of money to spend but none of this will happened until the bridge opens. Even when it opens the trail route on the west side of the river will travel almost a mile right down the center of a very busy parking lot. It will not be given it’s own safe route until the end of 2021 at the earliest.
There are other big money projects on the D&L, for example a tunnel was just opened this week that takes the trail under active rail lines in just north of Philly. This tunnel took a year to build, not sure of the cost but probably several million dollars, prolly about 3 million.
The trail is nice and has a purpose but the cost is way too much for what we can expect to benefit from. The Heritage Corridor organization is expert at spending other peoples money and is also very good at not being totally honest when it comes to project completion dates.
There are both federal and state funds set aside for this, in addition to what can be raised from private or corporate sources.
What usually happens (at least in the ones I have watched in my extremely blue state) is that various criteria are met (sometimes it is a certain level of private/corporate donations or town funds) which can then be sent to both state and federal levels for additional funding from those sources.
From what I have seen, these are almost never built without the assistance of town, state, and even federal funds.
So that money IS coming from somewhere. I would even go so far as to say the federal funds may originate in federal highway funds allocated to a state, which then doles them out to towns to build things like rail trails.
In my specific case, I KNOW money that could have been spent repairing roads was spent on this Rail Trail. Again, I love the Rail Trail concept. Putting land to better use, giving safe and healthy avenues for exercise, enjoying nature, etc. I get all of that completely.
I just think that fixing roads we MUST travel on should take precedence, and Rail Trail Federal and State money should only be allocated when it does not increase our national debt...which it is indisputable that it does.
Exactly. See my post right above...
I agree completely. Rail trails make excellent cycling routes: straight, shallow grade, minimal traffic. I’d like to see this trail completed but without taxpayer money.
Look at the success of the Appalachian Trail. And that’s only for hikers.
I have no doubt you’re correct. I’m sure here in Illinois the gas tax has been robbed to pay for them. Hell they rob it for everything else. I was merely pointing out that we already have hundreds and hundreds of miles of these trails here in Illinois.
My County has several already. Many of them cut right through our County Forest Preserves. Would I prefer they be paid for differently? You bet.
But they’re now sunken costs and there’s nothing that can be done about it, not here anyway. I’d much prefer user fees like they have in Wisconsin. A permit is required up there in order to legally take advantage of them. The Sugar River Trail is an example of that.
Best,
L
I know it is "comparatively miniscule", but we in this country need to make some hard choices, and we need to do it soon or we are done for.
Even though the amount is small, that is one of the major problems in this country...all the small things that have stakeholders who think their small thing is no big deal. Not everything is a billion dollars for a navy ship or $25 billion for a border wall.
$1.5 million federal funds to help fund gun range safety and range improvements nationally are a fine thing. A grant to study the Spotted Lugwort environment is only $300K. Allocated funds to facilitate recreation at ski slopes for underprivileged kids may be only $1.5 million nationwide. $99K to build a scenic overlook on a highway isn't much. $25 million for encouraging females to enter STEM programs is small potatoes. $10 million to help renovate a national park site isn't going to break the bank. (Note: I just made these up, but it is indisputable that there are expenditures just like these out there)
The problem we have is that tens or hundreds of BILLIONS of dollars are being allocated in small amounts across hundreds of thousands or millions of small interests. And as is often attributed as a Scottish phrase uttered famously by George Washington, "Many Mickles make a Muckle".
I have heard that if our enconomy (GDP) grew at 4% every single year for 20 years, we could get out of debt. But we are going in the completely opposite direction.
We need to begin making serious choices at all levels. It is going to hurt because people are used to the flow of cash at small levels all over for various things, but it is like a ship that has thousands of shrapnel holes in its hull. Any one of them won't sink the boat, but all of them will. We can eliminate waste in many areas of the government, military, entitlements, etc., but we are beyond the point where that is going to fix our massive debt problem. We also have to plug those shrapnel holes.
Rail Trails are something I see as a luxury.
Again, I love Rail Trails. I use them. I had experience trying to get one built, and I appreciate the efforts of those people who got it done. But they ARE luxuries.
I hear you.
But as you can see from my post above, it isn’t that as a conservative have hostility to them because they seem like a liberal thing (an attituede as SamAdams76 reasonably pointed out, sometimes exists)
I simply think we are in a crisis and need to face up to it with hard choices.
Rail Trails and such are just one of them IMO, that’s all.
“The US has 1000’s of miles of abandoned railroad right of ways.”
It should go back to the landowners in most cases particularly when specified in the original takings. Many farms had a railroad that cut diagonally across their land. If you owned land you wouldn’t want a limited use trail across your land giving access to who knows who to your property.
Yeah, long pants are great protection from rattlesnake, grizzly bear, wolf, and alligator attacks.
My long pants are made of 18 gauge steel. I look like the Tin Man in the Wizard of Oz.
I wonder if Mark Sanford wore that shirt?
“I simply think we are in a crisis and need to face up to it with hard choices.”
No argument here. Better to make those choices now while we still have choices.
L
Before I proceed let me quickly add that I would like to see the funding mechanism for transportation pushed down to that level where the economics of the project will be most closely felt (i.e. pare the Federal Trans Dept down to that which is only responsible for "national" level projects. Return the rest of it to the states).
I look upon my local rails-to-trails as a contributor to the local economy INDIRECTLY the same way that Central Park in NYC is an indirect contributor to the economy. Without Central Park, NYC would be a much less attractive place to live and property values would be (indirectly speaking, of course) much lower. This would certainly be the case on Fifth Avenue and CPW. NYC would also be a less attractive place to visit, ergo sales tax receipts would be less as well...again a local matter.
In other words, the park is a local matter and should be the responsibility of the local government. To the extent that the City contributes value (i.e. revenues) to the State, it should also be a responsibility of the State.
Same for rails-to-trails.
My local rails-to-trails makes my small town more attractive as a place to live and this contributes to the economy indirectly. Ergo, it should be a local matter...and in some way a state matter (to a much less degree).
But given that logic, it is not a Federal matter.
I could live with that gladly.
I don’t think we disagree on the benefits at all, I see it much the same way.
I think where we differ is on prioritizing what monies should be spent (and I don’t think we disagree all that much...as you said, pushing it closer to the local/state level (for funding) probably would help)
Right now, the states get federal highway funds, and that is sent to the states...I know there are various strings attached (If a state doesn’t support things like seat belts or speed limits and legislate appropriately, certain amounts of Federal Highway Funds are not allocated. I had heard a while back this was a mechanism that was going to be used to get Common Core acceptance...threatening withholding Federal Highway Funds!!!!)
I think the Federal Highway Funds mechanism is constructed in such a way to diminish the power of the states to make their own law and make them more subservient to the Federal Government, but...I digress.
Hahaha...that’s hilarious!
Sigh. I hate taking this stance, but...I think we are close to that pivot point, or far closer than we should be.
No more steak. No more cable. We can only have one car now. No Cocoa Puffs, you get generic cereal, probably corn flakes. No new clothes, only hand-me-downs.
Except it is, on a national scale: No more midnight basketball. No more funds for studying the Spotted Lugwort. No more funds to promote STEM education for girls. No more bike trails.
I think we have to do it. The government teat is going to go dry no matter what, and as you said, it will be easier on us if we control decisions instead of circumstances controlling decisions.
I don’t dispute anything you say. If the trwils system can’t be built without public money, then it shouldn’t be built.
I believe it should be a (geographical and user) community effort and those who benefit should be willing to incur the cost, not just of the creation but the ongoing maintenance.
Maybe a pay-per-use model, with all funds statutorily allocated to the exclusive use of the trails trust (the Board of which are all volunteers).
Black Hawk is IDNR, up near Rock Island, I believe? I think you meant “Shawnee”?
Small amounts here, small amounts there, pretty soon we’re talking about real money.
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