Local organizing update: Madison County members work for local bike-trails

For several years, KFTC members in Madison County have worked on supporting the development of a comprehensive multi-use trail system in Berea.  Through a great collaboration with Berea College and the City of Berea, a trail plan was developed through the town that would lead to Indian Fort, a popular recreational and hiking area outside of Berea.

Below is more information compiled by KFTC member Karen Mattingly about the great economic benefit that bike trails bring to local communities.  Let's make sure these benefits can come to Kentucky!

1. $12 million is spent annually by 1.7 million adults using the Washington and Old Dominion Trail.


2. 1,400 jobs are created or supported by the $60 million in annual bicycle expenditures in the North Carolina Outer Banks 


3. $2 million per town along the Des Moine Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa is reported each year.


4. More than $5 million is added to the local economy of Lanesboro, Minnesota, a town of about 800 residents, due to its location on the River Root Trail.


5. $1.6 million is spent and 30 jobs are supported by nonlocal visitors to the Virginia Creeper Trail each year.


6. An average of $270,000 in a 24-hour period was spent in each town hosting the Ride the Rockies in 2008 by the 2000 participating cyclists and many return as tourists at a later date. 


7. $5 to $7 million is spent annually in local communities by users of the Pine Creek Rail Trail in Pennsylvania.


8. $133 billion and 1.1 million jobs are contributed to the national economy as a result of bicycling each year.


9. Quality of Life is more important than purely business related factors in attracting new business, particularly in high-tech and service industries.