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A new life for Recreational Trails Program funding T


he Recreational Trails Program (RTP) is one of the most im- portant sources of funding for


trail projects. After several years of uncertainty, the program has been reauthorized to continue helping States, volunteer groups, and project sponsors to improve our nationwide system of trails. The Recreational Trails Program


was created by the Intermodal Surface  (ISTEA), reauthorized in 1998 as part of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21), and again in 2005 through the Safe, Accountable, - ty Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA- LU). The RTP was also included in the 2012 transportation-reauthorization bill, Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21). Most recently, the RTP was reauthorized as part of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, which covers Fiscal Years 2016 through 2020 and was signed by the President on December 5, 2015. RTP applies the “user-pay/user-  Trust Fund, returning Federal tax on fuel used for nonhighway recreation to the States for trail projects. Pro- gram implementation is consistent in practice with other expenditures from the Highway Trust Fund. Although the gas tax supporting the Fund is paid primarily by gas-using vehicles, resources are shared with other users of recreational trails to develop a bal- anced system. Project categories eligible for fund-


ing are many and varied, giving States  State trail programs. Eligible projects include: maintenance and restora- tion of existing recreational trails; development and rehabilitation of trailside and trailhead facilities and trail linkages for recreational trails; purchase and lease of recreational trail


construction and maintenance equip- ment; construction of new recreational  when Federal land is involved); ac- quisition of easements and fee simple title for recreational trail corridors; and assessment of trail conditions. State administrative and educational program costs are capped at 7 percent and 5 percent respectively. States are  youth conservation or service corps. Thirty percent of funds are to be spent for uses relating to motorized recreation; 30 percent are to be spent for uses relating to nonmotorized recreation. In addition, 40 percent are


to be used for projects that facilitate diverse recreational trail use within a recreational trail corridor, trailside, or trailhead.


As was the case under MAP-21, under the FAST Act, funds are to be allocated to the States in the same amounts and according to the same allocations that were in place in Fiscal Year 2009, the last year of SAFETEA- LU. At that time, the formula appor- tioned half of all funding to the States equally and the remaining 50 percent was apportioned among eligible States based upon nonhighway recre- ational fuel use in each of those States during the preceding year. There have been no adjustments to those alloca- tions since 2009.


After almost 25 years, RTP fund- ing has grown to represent a larger portion of the total fuel taxes paid by nonhighway recreationists, although it is conservatively estimated that the RTP receives less than 42 percent of the total taxes paid annually by non- highway recreationists. During Fiscal Year 2009, the last year of SAFETEA- LU, States received slightly more than $84 million in RTP funds, the same annual maximum approved under MAP-21 and now the FAST Act. Since 1991, the RTP has received


more than $1 billion in Federal fund- ing and has become the foundation for State trail programs across the country. It leverages hundreds of mil- lions of dollars of additional support from other sources for trails, encour- ages productive cooperation among trail users, and facilitates healthy out- door recreation and associated, badly needed economic activity in countless communities.


Swords Park Trail, Billings, Montana, an RTP- funded project.


Visit the database of over 20,000 RTP- funded projects atwww.recreationaltrailsinfo. org. See more information on the RTP, including funding for each State, atwww. fhwa.dot.gov/environment/recreational_ trails.


Source: Coalition for Recreational Trails


Keep up to date on funding and legislation supporting trails: www.AmericanTrails.org/support.html


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