Rich James educates and inspires! He has formatted his presentation as a guide to building trails in rural counties. A highlight of the Whatcom Active Transportation Summit!

3.  Establish a Vision
 Create a Plan to Accomplish the Vision
 Get Local Governments/Agencies to
Support the Vision and Trail Plan
 Dedicated Agency Staff must have
Sufficient Time Allocated in their Job to
accomplish the Vision and Plan
 Foster a Grassroots Support Network and
Connect with other Support Groups

4.  Money makes the trail world go round -
Aggressively seek grants and local funding
opportunities
 A Trail Program should be contained within the
Public Works Department & Funded through the
6 Year Transportation Improvement Program
 Large scale trail maintenance should be a Public
Works Function
 Routine Maintenance is a volunteer task
 Trail and Bridges should be built for low
maintenance costs

7.  45 miles of paved, multi-user, traffic separated trail constructed
in 15 years
 25 miles of new equestrian/mountain bike/hiker trail
constructed in 6 Years by Chain Gang and Volunteer Crews
 10 miles of additional funded trail under construction
 Grassroots support network is strong
 County Commissioner support is strong
 Federal/State political support – Only Americas Great Outdoors
Trail in Washington
 Maintenance budget is adequate
 Volunteer maintenance program is established
 Trail is an accepted part of the transportation infrastructure
 Trail is accepted as a positive amenity by the real estate and
business community
 Trail is producing economic returns from events and tourism

10.  Create an extensive trail network that allows
access to most County and regional
destinations directly from neighborhoods and
ensure that this system is at least as safe for the
non-motorized user as the motorized
transportation system is for motorized
transportation system users.

12.  Develop a safe non-motorized transportation
system that connects the communities of the
North Olympic Peninsula from Port Townsend
on Puget Sound to LaPush on the Pacific Ocean.
 The Olympic Discovery Trail (ODT) will become
part of a larger system of trails with the ODT
being considered as the westward extension of
the cross state Ironhorse Trail, the northern route
of the Olympic Loop Trail traversing the entire
Olympic Peninsula and the western leg of the
Pacific Northwest Trail extending from Montana
to the Pacific Coast.

14.  The Peninsula Trails Coalition formed in 1988
to create a public access trail between Port
Townsend and Port Angeles. Membership has
grown to over 300.
 Despite initial opposition to the idea, a
community vision was born and is now
bearing fruit.

15.  RAILROAD COMPANIES UNDER
VARIOUS NAMES CONSTRUCTED OVER
100 MILES OF RAILROAD TRACKS IN
CLALLAM COUNTY IN THE EARLY 1900’S
 RAILROAD GRADES ARE IDEAL FOR
CONVERSION TO TRAILS AS THEY
TRAVERSE ROUTES WITH GENTLE
TERRAIN AND ARE EASY TO RIDE

20. THE TRAIL HAS A 10 FOOT WIDE PAVED SURFACE TO FULLY
SUPPORT ROAD BICYCLISTS AND 2 TO 4 FOOT WIDE GRAVEL
SHOULDERS FOR PEDESTRIANS AND EQUESTRIANS.
BICYCLE COMMUTERS WITHIN 5 MILES OF AN URBAN CENTER
CAN TRAVEL THE TRAIL IN APPROXIMATELY THE SAME
AMOUNT OF TIME AS A CAR COMMUTER DUE TO TRAFFIC
CONGESTION AND STOPLIGHTS SLOWING THE CAR
COMMUTER
BICYCLE COMMUTERS SAVE HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS PER
YEAR IN GAS AND CAR MAINTENANCE COSTS WHILE
IMPROVING THEIR HEALTH

33.  Never let initial special interest opposition deter a
community based vision, address opposition
concerns.
 Never under-estimate the value of a volunteer.
 Politicians listen to and support volunteer networks
willing to attend public hearings to voice their
support for trail projects.
 Volunteers and their organizations are capable of
successful fund raising efforts, writing successful
grants, providing money and labor match funding,
constructing their own segments of trail and of
doing a lot of routine trail maintenance.

36.  Agencies and volunteer organizations in
Clallam and Jefferson County have been able to
secure over $12,000,000 from various sources to
fund and construct segments of the Olympic
Discovery Trail.
 These agencies and volunteer organizations
work together to support each others grants
and provide grant match.

37.  Olympic Discovery Trail Projects are included
along with every other transportation project
in the 6 Year Transportation Improvement
Program
 In order to access transportation funding the
trail program is properly located within the
Public Works Department. The trail is part of
the transportation infrastructure, not primarily
a recreational facility and not within an
underfunded Parks Department

44.  THE LONG TERM EQUESTRIAN, MOUNTAIN BIKE AND HIKER
ROUTE BETWEEN THE ELWHA RIVER AND LAKE CRESCENT.
 A 3 FOOT WIDE TREAD WITH A GRADE UNDER 10% THAT
TRAVERSES DNR OWNERSHIPS IN THE FOOTHILLS SOUTH OF
SR 112.
 A SAFE RECREATIONAL ROUTE FOR TEENS AND ADULTS IN
THE JOYCE AREA TO TRAVERSE THE DISTANCE BETWEEN
JOYCE AND PORT ANGELES OR JOYCE TO LAKE CRESCENT
 RECREATIONAL LOOPS UTILIZING THE NEW SIDEWALK IN
JOYCE AND THE ADVENTURE ROUTE ABOVE JOYCE COULD BE
COMBINED TO AUGMENT PERSONAL EXERCIZE PROGRAMS
 TRAIL HAS BEEN CONSTRUCTED BY A SHERIFF CHAIN GANG
CREW AND A VOLUNTEER CREW

45. New Trail
in Yellow
New Trail
in Yellow

56. Joyce
S
#
EAST BEACH
TRAILHEAD
SPRUCE RAILROAD TRAIL
3.5 Miles
Lk S
uthe
rlan
d
FAIRHOLME HILL Lake Crescent
TRAILHEAD
McFee Tunnel
(
/101 460 Feet
Short Tunnel
160 Feet
FEDERALLY FUNDED
RCO TUNNEL MATCH TRAIL
6.2 Miles

65.  In Attitudes Relating to Bikes, Cars and Health
 In Bicycle Technology
 In Bicycle Infrastructure
 In Law

66. In the City of Copenhagen (Population 1,200,000)
 50% of all Copenhageners cycle to their place of
work or education every day.
 68 % of all Copenhageners cycle once a week.
Why do Copenhageners cycle?
 It’s faster – 55 % It’s more convenient – 33 %
 It's healthy - 32 % It’s cheap – 29 %
How Does Scandinavia Compare to the US?
 In Holland transportation by bike is 27% of trips
and in Denmark 18%. The rate is 1% in the US but
a few cities like Davis, California have hit 15%.

67. 137 Watts to ride 19 MPH – tucked
271 Watts to ride 19 MPH
115 Watts to ride 19 MPH 79 Watts to ride 19 MPH

68.  The most efficient and practical pedal powered vehicle made
is a velomobile (covered tricycle) which gains its speed
advantage with aerodynamics superior to a bicycle.
 In this vehicle you could retain the same speed as you
normally do, but use 3.5 times less energy,
 Or arrive at a destination twice as quickly with the same effort
 This high efficiency greatly enlarges the range of a pedal
powered vehicle while providing protection from the weather

69.  The average distance of a car trip in Europe
and in the US amounts to between 8 and 9.3
miles.
 A fit cyclist pedaling a velomobile at a
sustained rate of 250 watts for only 20 minutes
would average 28 miles per hour and cover 9.3
miles or the length of an average automobile
trip.

71. HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU SAT
STOPPED IN TRAFFIC IN A CAR ON
I-5 THINKING “I COULD GET TO MY
DESTINATION FASTER THAN THIS
ON MY BIKE ?”

72. MANY MORE MILES OF MANY MORE MILES OF
BICYCLE FRIENDLY STREETS DEDICATED RURAL TRAILS
WITH LOW SPEED LIMITS DESIGNED FOR SPEEDS UP
AND DEDICATED LANES TO 25 MPH