Railbanked Trails ACROSS AMERICA BEST OF
By Scott Stark
The steady decline of active railway mileage in the United States was turbocharged in 1980 by the deregulation of the railroad industry, which made it easier for railways to discontinue unprofitable routes. Dismayed to see such vital pieces of connective infrastructure disappearing, Congress passed an amendment to the National Trails System Act just three years later that enshrined into the law the concept of railbanking —preserving railway corridors in perpetuity, should they ever be needed again. Under the law signed by President Reagan in 1983, railways could voluntarily give up a disused rail corridor to be reworked into an active transportation pathway for human-powered travel—with the stipulation that it may be converted back to rail use should the need ever arise. The effects have been transformative. More than 4,800 miles of railbanked corridor have been repurposed into 273 rail-trails (and counting). Here are a few notable examples.
PHOTOS: This page, from left: Laura Stark; Gene Bisbee. Opposite page, from top: Chris Ziegler; Courtesy Denton County Transportation Authority; Katie Guerin.
IOWA Sauk Rail Trail
WASHINGTON East Lake Sammamish Trail
The Sauk Rail Trail (rtc.li/sauk) in west-central Iowa kicked off what is now 40 years of railbanking just two years after the law was enacted. What started as the country’s first railbanked trail today spans 33 paved miles—built, in part, on a corridor once owned by one of the longest railroads in the United States, the Chicago & North Western Railway (C&NW). Bookended by Black Hawk State Park at its northern terminus and Swan Lake State Park at the south end, the trail features a restored 1905 depot in the town of Breda that houses memorabilia from the C&NW.
Washington’s East Lake Sammamish Trail (rtc.li/ east-lake-sammamish) was the subject of a court battle that questioned the essential legality of the National Trails System Act regarding railroad easements ( Hornish Joint Liv- ing Trust, et al. v. King County ). Filing a legal brief support- ing King County, Rails to Trails Conservancy’s legal team helped secure a victory that affirmed that the full width of the railbanked corridor conveyed to the trail’s managing agency. The 12-mile paved pathway in Seattle’s fast-growing eastern suburbs serves as an important route for com- muters and offers an enjoyable recreational amenity with expansive views of its namesake lake. It’s also a part of the 900-mile Leafline Trails Network (rtc.li/leafline) developing across the Central Puget Sound region and a segment of the Great American Rail-Trail ® (greatamericanrailtrail.org), a 3,700-mile route connecting Washington, D.C., and Washington State.
Learn more about how the railbanking law was developed at rtc.li/railbanking-author.
Rails to Trails MAGAZINE | FALL 2025
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