June 2014 - Parks & Recreation - 68

NRPA Update

PRORAGIS and Trails
By Travis Smith, Ph.D.

W

hile he was secretary of
transportation for the
United States, Ray LaHood said, " Livability means being
able to take your kids to school, go
to work, see a doctor, drop by the
grocery or post office, go out to dinner and a movie, and play with your
kids at a park - all without having
to get in your car. " Perhaps without
knowing it, Secretary LaHood was
making a clear case for the importance of park and recreation agencies in building livable communities.
As discussed in NRPA's Parks and
Recreation: Essential Partners in Active
Transportation
(www.nrpa.org/up
loadedFiles/nrpa.org/Publications_

and_Research/Research/Active
Transportation_Final.HIGH.pdf),
public park and recreation agencies
are critical components in the implementation of active transportation
principles, and the benefits of active
transportation as they relate to economic, health and conservation issues are massive. Analysis of the data
in PRORAGIS™ shows that in 2013,
the median mileage of greenways
and trails managed by PRORAGIS
agencies was more than 67 miles.
From this data, we can infer that park
and recreation agencies already manage hundreds of thousands of miles
of trails that people use to commute,
exercise and move between locations

In 2013, the median
PRORAGIS agency offered:

67.2
36.9
17.1

total
trail miles
miles of trails
for hiking/
walking only

miles of
multipurpose
trails (no
equestrian)

6.2
66

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miles of
multipurpose
trails (with
equestrian)

that are important in their lives. Interestingly, the median percentages of
trails that are multipurpose in nature,
where bikers, walkers, runners and
sometimes even equestrians share
the path, are more than 70 percent.
As many professionals familiar with
shared-use trails will tell you, this is
a very common source of friction between citizens and can present challenges to successful deployment of
active transportation strategies.
The importance of trails as part
of a comprehensive transportation
strategy is reflected in provisions in
the recent Grow America legislation
(www.dot.gov/grow-america) proposed by the Obama administration.
While this overarching strategy for
surface transportation is unlikely to
make it through Congress in its current form, the components focusing
on active transportation issues provide insight into the future of how
active transportation will be a part
of comprehensive strategies to make
moving around our cities more efficient, equitable and enjoyable. As
such, NRPA is in the process of refreshing our summary of the close
relationship of parks and recreation
and active transportation through the
lens of NRPA's three pillars of conservation, health and wellness, and
social equity. This updated monograph will be released later this year,
and with a bit of luck will serve as a
resource as your agency continues to
bring the benefits of active transportation to your citizens.
Travis Smith, Ph.D., is NRPA's Director of
Research (tsmith@nrpa.org).
June 2014 - Parks & Recreation

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