NC Rail-Trails's news items
State initiates Safe Routes to School Program
In September North Carolina kicked off its Safe Routes to School (SRTS) initiative that over the next five years will bring $15 million in federal money to the state to build walking and bicycling trails to elementary and middle schools with hopes of making a dent in childhood obesity rates.
SRTS advocates offer these figures:
- Today fewer than 15 percent of schoolchildren walk or bike to school compared to 50 percent estimated in 1969.
- Up to 20 to 30 percent of morning traffic is generated by parents driving their children to school with the following health implications:
- Over the last 25 years, air pollution has been linked to a 74% increase in asthma rates among children ages 5-14 and a 160% increase in children up to age 4.
- Childhood obesity rates have more than tripled since 1970.
North Carolina’s allocation is part of the $612 million for the national SRTS program included in the transportation bill passed by Congress in August. SRTS stipulates that 70 to 90 percent of the money be spent on infrastructure.
“NCDOT’s Division of Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation looks forward to working with local partners, including NCRT, to identify eligible trail projects that will create safe, healthful opportunities for children to walk or bike to school,” said Tom Norman, director of the division. "We also need advocacy groups like NCRT to encourage local officials to locate new school construction closer to the places where people live so that walking and biking will be more feasible than it often is currently.”
Workshops are now underway across the state to familiarize school systems, planning departments and communities about SRTS and the application process. SRTS workshops help communities develop programs based on their unique situations while providing strategies and resources for a plan. The workshops last one day and are held during the week.
Earlier this year the Transylvania County School system was skittish about participating in SRTS because of possible legal and safety problems. After researching the questions, the school system’s board unanimously approved participation in August.
Randy Ronning, administrator of California’s SRTS program, said over the last six years 500 SRTS projects involving about $140 million have been funded in California. He said he had “never heard of a single lawsuit that connects the SRTS to an action or inaction of a school, school district, city or county.”
A NCDOT summary of the SRTS program can be found at https://www.ncdot.org/programs/saferoutes/
Safe Routes to School Q&A
Safe Routes to School (SRTS) was recently moved from Office of the Secretary NC Dept of Transportation to the department’s Division of Bicycle and Pedestrian. Tom Norman, the Division’s director, responded to questions posed by “Little Toot” about SRTS.
Q: The application process has yet to be solidified. By what date do you expect to release the first grants?
The official kick-off for the North Carolina Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program was held Sept. 13. We are in the process of developing a full range of programs through the SRTS initiative, including workshops, grants, educational materials, encouragement materials and other toolkits which will assist communities across the state with setting up and implementing a SRTS program in their area.
Q: Any preliminary indications as to how many schools districts or counties will apply between now and January ’08?
From our pilot program, we currently have five schools from the Winston-Salem Forsyth County system which participated in a SRTS workshop. We are currently receiving requests from other schools across the state to conduct workshops in their community.
By 2008 we anticipate that our grant program will be underway. This grant program will provide an opportunity for schools, school systems, government agencies and other organization to apply for funding to implement infrastructure or non-infrastructure projects within the vicinity of schools. We are currently developing the processes for how the grant program will be implemented. It will be a competitive reimbursement program with no local match required.
Q: What will this program look like by January ’08 in terms of participation?
In North Carolina to date, there have been 13 schools that have participated in a SRTS workshop. Thirty-one schools across 17 municipalities registered as participants in the International Walk to School event on Oct.4.
Enthusiasm and interest in the SRTS movement in North Carolina is catching. People are interested in how they can encourage bicycling and walking in their community. They are interested in how to obtain funding to build sidewalks and mark crosswalks. And they want to make their neighborhoods safer. We are encouraged by the SRTS buzz and we know that by January 2008 many more schools will be participating in this effort.
Q: The grants call for 70-90 percent to be spent on infrastructure. We assume this will entail coordination with local departments of planning. Describe the dynamic/working process you anticipate between local planning departments and school systems.
The foundation of any successful SRTS effort includes partnering with stakeholders to reach a common goal. For example, one of the first steps in holding a workshop is to get the right people in the room to share ideas. For each individual school, several key players are involved in one way or another, including school representatives, parents, local planners, traffic engineers, law enforcement, health advocates and neighbors.
In some cases, improving the walkability and bikeability within two miles of a school will incorporate a state-maintained road. In most cases, it will involve local roads. Funding can only be used for infrastructure improvements within the public right-of-way in the vicinity of schools serving grades K-8. Once our grant program is set up, local governments, schools, school systems, etc. will be able to apply for infrastructure or non-infrastructure funding. Applicants that are interested in getting sidewalks or other infrastructure on roads leading to a particular school will need to acknowledge who their partners are - specifically the jurisdictions governing the right-of-way – in order to apply.
Q: What specific role can NCRT play in Safe Routes to Schools vis a vis communication, technical advice, etc.?
An example of a successful rail-trail conversion that can be utilized by several schools is the American Tobacco Trail. At a SRTS workshop held at Fayetteville Street Elementary School in Durham, this trail was seen as a useful means by which children could access the school.
Questions about how to improve the safety of the trail, trail crossings with busy streets and general trail use were discussed during the workshop. NCRT can be a valuable partner in other local SRTS programs where there is potential for schools and trails to intersect. Abandoned rails may now have more benefit as a trail conversion project if they can serve as an asset to a school. Communicating with local agencies and other partners to improve a SRTS program is a wonderful way for NCRT to be involved.
For further information about the Safe Routes to School initiative, contact Sarah Worth O’Brien, interim Safe Routes to School coordinator, NCDOT – Division of Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation, 919-515-8703.
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Appeals Court upholds full trail rights
In August 2006 North Carolina's Court of Appeals unanimously affirmed a decision of a Rutherford County trial court which could help in establishing future rail--trails in North Carolina. The ruling found that the Rutherford County Thermal Belt Rail-Trail was held by defendant Bechtler Corporation, the nonprofit trail owner, in full ownership and not merely as an easement. The plaintiffs did not appeal the ruling up to the state Supreme Court and the decision stands as precedent. As a consequence the adjoining landowners have no interest in the subsurface or aerial rights so as to collect fees from utilities, including revenues for possible fiber optic lines. The trail was represented Bailey and Dixon, LLP, by David S. Coats and Michael Domonkos, the latter appearing as “of counsel.” Both attorneys are on the Board of North Carolina Rail-Trails. Domonkos said that the plaintiffs at the trial level had originally challenged whether the trail had been properly railbanked under the federal program designed to protect abandoned rail corridors for possible future rail use. The program permits interim conversion to trails for recreation and non-motorized travel. The adjoining landowners gave up on the railbanking challenge but argued that they were the fee owners and that the rail-trail was an easement limited to trail uses. The plaintiffs argued that even if there was proper railbanking, they were entitled to a declaratory judgment which would give them ownership of revenues derived for any fiber optic cables placed in the rail bed and damages for utility, sewage and other encroachments which allegedly had been wrongfully permitted by the trail owners and former railroad companies. Rutherford County Superior Court Judge Laura J. Bridges held June 28, 2005, that the predecessors to the defendant Bechtler Corporation obtained the rail bed outright and not not just by easement. The plaintiffs disagreed with the decision and appealed to the state Court of Appeals. The original title obtained in 1855 provided that the railroad owned the property "so long as" it was used for purposes of the railroad. North Carolina statutes in 1973 voided such old and remote limitations unless the adjoining landowners timely file notice to preserve such limitations. For old deeds, the filing had to by October 1, 1976. There was no such filing by the plaintiffs. Domonkos predicted that the decision would be a significant precedent. It could provide helpful to establishing rail-trails on rail beds long thought to be abandoned and lost. He said :“…take another look at those old deeds and transfers to the railroads”. The importance of this ruling is that it is similar to rulings in many other states which hold that a limitation in a deed to "railroad purposes" or “so long as it is used for railroad use” and similar language does not create a mere easement but nearly full ownership by the railroad which ripens into full ownership after the statutory period. The court also affirmed that use of the term “right of way “ in a deed is neutral term and could mean a fee interest or an easement. Domonkos believes that in North Carolina a significant number of rail beds thought to having been easement and thus having been reverted to adjoining landowners may actually still be viable for future rail use or conversion to trails. It has been held in North Carolina that if the railroad owns the property in fee, no adverse possession or encroachment by adjoining land owners or others will divest the railroad of ownership, no matter how long the absence of railroad use and the railroad's failure to police its property. In short, there are no “squatter’s rights” against a railroad. For further commentary see our Fall 2006 Little Toot article.
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