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I understand the RR owner's concerns with liability, however as you
pointed out there should be ways to address this. The concerns of
derailments I think are ridiculous - the odds of it happening much less
hitting a trail user are incredibly low. The odds of getting hit by a
car where the path crosses a road on the other hand, are not so low,
probably astronomical in comparison. One major benifit of trails on or
near rails is the relative low number of street crossings - you can see
on any map how rails split up neighborhoods. And the idea that trails
makes it more likely that people will be near
and therefore more likely to trespass also seem a stretch - anyone ever
hear of a subdivision not being built near a rail due to that concern? In many ways the situation with rails seems similar to the new trail along Hwy 12, and I'm sure there were highway people at DOT who said nope, can't do it, liability, blah blah blah. I'm sure an impartial risk/benefit analysis would come out on the side of rail-with-trail over road-with-trail, but I'm not sure about the cost. If there's a highway running a similar route nearby it may be cheaper and easier to get that done, unfortunately with a higher risk to bikers. Another possibility is power line right of ways, I've been in rec areas where foot trails run near them, so maybe power co's are less skittish and they probably need the PR. (Say what you want about stray voltage etc I'll take my chances on that over tailpipe carcinogens any day.) My guess is it boils down to political will and money - if enough of the right people push for it, it can happen. The rail guy at DOT is at least talking, but he's not gonna help. Maybe mayor Dave could be brought onboard to lobby for it (without embroiling it in the streetcar thing of course). Madison has some suitable rails + trails locations also and with Dave claiming to be pro-biking who knows. I know Ann Arbor Mich has a rails + trails stretch near Geddes Park, don't know how long or other specifics but I do recall a rather intimidating 10 ft tall barbed wire topped chain link fence separating the railway. Maybe DOT's where they've done these will comment on them, might sway opinions here. Sorry about the lack of organization, I'm typing between bites and lunch is over... Doug Adler
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