RTC QUARTERLY REPORT
What We’ve Been Up To Legal Victory: The Committee to Save the Derry Rail Trail Tunnel and Rails to Trails Conservancy
putting people’s safety at risk. “These moves are appalling and send a clear message. We need to band together— the public, local and state officials, and champions in Congress—to protect the range of funding that exists for this vital infrastructure,” said Kevin Mills, RTC’s vice president of policy. Read more: rtc.li/trails-clawbacks . Railbanking Under Fire: In August, bill H.R. 4924, the Rails to Trails Landowner Rights Act, was reintroduced in Congress. The bill effectively destroys the viability of railbanking, which is fundamental to protecting former rail corridors as trails—the foundation of the nation’s decades-long movement to preserve unused railroad corridors. H.R. 4924 introduces exceedingly burdensome and unworkable changes to railbanking that threaten future and existing rail-trails and risk causing irreparable harm to the nation’s rail corridors. RTC is fighting back and will post updates as they arise. Learn more about railbanking at railstotrails.org/ railbanking . Historical Marker Grant Program: RTC and the William G. Pomeroy Foundation have launched a new historical marker program, “Trails Across America,” to celebrate and preserve history along America’s multiuse trails, and draw attention to local and national people, events and places of historical significance. Through the program, RTC and the Pomeroy Foundation are collaborating
with communities to develop and install premium cast-aluminum historical markers, which are funded by the Pomeroy Foundation. Learn more about the program and how to apply at railstotrails.org/grants/#marker .
celebrated a victory in June in response to a lawsuit against the New Hampshire Department of Transportation (NHDOT) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), which challenged construction of Phase 2 of the Exit 4A I-93 expansion in Derry. The lawsuit was brought to protect the Manchester & Lawrence Railroad Historic District and the Derry Rail Trail, a 3.6-mile pathway that helps make up the developing 125- mile Granite State Rail Trail ( rtc.li/ derry-rail-trail ). The court held that FHWA and NHDOT did not properly consider whether a new design minimized harm to the same extent as the original design plan, which advocates say will improve the safety of the future rail-trail connection and create better trail system linkages. The final settlement was pending at the time of printing. Federal Clawback: In July, the One Big Beautiful Bill was signed into law, rescinding unobligated funding of as much as $750 million for critical trail and active transportation projects from the Neighborhood Access and Equity Program. More recently, the U.S. Department of Transportation has canceled existing grants intended to make it safer and easier to walk and bike in communities across America,
Court Sides With Trail Advocates in N.H. in Lawsuit Over Historic Rail Corridor rtc.li/derry-rail-trail
Reconciliation Bill Claws Back Hundreds of Millions of Dollars for Trails, Walking and Biking rtc.li/fed-claw-backs
New House Bill Threatens the Viability of Railbanking and Thousands of Miles of Existing Rail-Trails Learn more about railbanking: railstotrails.org/railbanking
New Marker Partnership Commemorates
History Along Trails Around the Country
railstotrails.org/ grants/#marker
PHOTOS: Opposite page, left: Rock Island Trail | Courtesy Missouri State Parks. This page, counterclockwise, from left: Courtesy Chris Ziegler, Armstrong Trails; Jeff Donahue, courtesy Panhandle Trail; Anthony Le; Courtesy Committee to Save the Derry Rail Trail Tunnel.
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