Policymakers and transportation planners utilize quantitative methods for developing and prioritizing transportation investments. While travel forecasting and evaluation tools have been employed in the highway planning process for decades, these instruments have only recently begun to be developed for non-motorized transportation investments. As a result, road projects are typically described as needs, while projects addressing conditions for bicyclists and pedestrians are often considered “amenities” (RTC 2014, T-MAP Fact sheet). Individual agencies have developed programs to measure trail use along local greenway corridors, but there currently are no national methods for demand and impact estimation on trails and greenways. To address this gap, the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy has undertaken a $1.2 million, three-year project called Trail Modeling and Assessment Platform (T-MAP) to create “trail planning data collection instruments, methodologies, and analysis tools” (RTC 2014, T-MAP Fact sheet).
As part of T-MAP, the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy will lead the first nationwide survey of trail use. This paper contributes to the development of the T-MAP survey tools and methods, which will provide the empirical data necessary for calculating the health and transportation impacts of trail investments. Without this data, the impact analyses would rely on crude assumptions. The survey data allows Rails-to-Trails to learn more about trail use and usage, which will allow the organization to make a better case for trails. The T-MAP survey implementation will include two components: an intercept survey and an online survey. This project focuses on the development and refinement of the trail user survey and survey distribution protocol, which will outline strategies for effective survey administration, including survey timing, location, incentives, and surveyor training.Master of City and Regional Plannin
