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Posted on 10/19/2025 5:29:08 PM PDT by Texan4Life
The story of one of the most unlikely social movements in American history: the struggle to convert thousands of miles of abandoned railroads into trails for cycling and walking.
Facing fierce opposition and legal challenges from private property owners, leaders fought to reclaim these corridors for the public, creating a national network of scenic, car-free paths.
(Excerpt) Read more at pbs.org ...
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They were talking about this when I was an avid bicyclist 50 years ago.
The left destroyed the railroads in this country by subsidizing roads, and later doing the same to airports, while taxing railroad companies into oblivion. Turning these into bike trails using public largesse seems to me to almost mirror the “victory mosque” concept.
But avoid trails which cross "urban" areas. You will know these areas by empty malt liquor bottles,
empty packs of Newports. Garbage strewn around. Hoodlums lurking to take you out.
They make the point that the roads were built for bicycles, and taken over by automobiles.
” . . . The 60-year struggle to convert thousands of miles of abandoned railroads into trails for cycling and walking...”
Perfect for democrat filth to assault, rape, and murder feckless, unarmed, naive young white female lone joggers out in the middle of nowhere.
“They make the point that the roads were built for bicycles, and taken over by automobiles”
My Grandmother lived in westchester north of the Bronx. Whenever she sent me somewhere like another relative’s and gave me directions it was complicated she’d say ‘well it’s all cow paths”. They used cow paths for autos then paved them. She was right
This seems like a great idea but I think train travel is great. Now neglected. New York runs on trains. Well now at least. It’ll look like Riyadh Saudi A in 2 years.
Women should jog/walk/cycle in a pack.
In the video, I believe it was in the Atlanta area the Govt. spent big on this -— $180 Million, and, with attracted development along the rail to trail, got something like $3 Billion in return.
Let me say it again. Run a metal cable down the middle of the tracks. Handcuff our prison inmates to them and space railroad cars or storage containers 30 miles apart for sleeping. Backpacks + umbrellas. Good exercise. Cheap. No need for guards. Do it in remote areas.
Cry all you want, but Interstate Highways took away the need for the hundreds of private railroads across the country.
And the passenger rail system of the 1940 and and 1950’s is NEVER coming back due to the same and airports everywhere for the “Business” customers that used to ride the rails. (The NEC corridor is the exception, of course!!)
Better the old rails be used for recreation, than paved over for endless condos and office space. That’s what I believe.
I took my skates to northern VA on a recommendation from a co-worker. The W&OD trail. I strapped my skates on in Reston, VA. It was a pleasant day. A little wind to my back. Even slightly downhill. At some point I realized it wasn't a closed loop. I was going to have to skate back to my car. I was 15 miles out. It was uphill, into the wind all the way. Ugh! Once was enough. I prefer having my obligation capped at 5 miles back to the car.
After I moved to Idaho, I found the local streets much rougher than the streets in San Diego. Indoor rink or bust. That worked for a while. Too many kids. Too many objects being dropped on the floor. The skates are retired now.
“Women should jog/walk/cycle in a pack.”
In a pack. Yep. I’m a girl and I’ve made it this far. Spent a few years living in manhattan, and other dangerous places
It takes planning, following rules and keeping one’s head on a swivel. Not weapons. Not martial arts, though we know how to operate in that
No lone jogging. They do this without even a dog. It’s just unadvisable never their fault, it’s the murderous criminals. But.
Travel in packs
Cyclers always want something for free. Why not pool their money and buy a few rail lines and create their own cycle paths?
I love leaving them in a cloud of thick diesel smoke when they pull up next to my ride. They just never learn.
Struggle? PBS is always hyperbolic.
Tired of vying with trucks on the highway every day - should have left the railroads intact.
Traversing abandoned or seldom used RR tracks in rural NW Ohio was an opportunity to see rare or unusual plants, pick blackberries, see wildlife from an elevated vantage point, and get poison ivy. I was enthused about the R2T concept 45 years ago, but never did the math or thought of the social or tax implications.
Still found glass insulators and other unusual stuff along the tracks. Rural farmland and forest/woods present endless opportunities, though you usually gotta know someone to trespass. By the way, I always thought ‘trespass’ was an illegal action in itself, until I realized ‘trespass’ is just the word for accessing given land.
One stretch of the Silver Comet trail west if Atlanta used to be known for its crime rate. (Murder, Rape, Armed Robberies).
We’re being looted by taxes 24/7 and now the bicycle people want to turn thousands of miles of railroads into bicycleroads?
Why do I have to pay taxes on and register my motorcycle but bicyclist who use the same roads do not?
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