Nature Trails and Mixed Routes - Tourism and Trails: Cultural, Ecological and Management Issues - page 91

The popularity of the personal automobile and the freedom of mobility it
inspired, as well as the sophisticated network of highways in North America
and standardization of air travel hastened this decline.
As a result of dwindling train use, many rail lines were abandoned or torn
apart, resulting in overgrown vacant spaces and derelict linear landscapes
that blighted many regions and communities. Old rail lines were considered
unsafe, unsightly and incongruent with their surrounding environments. In
response to the question about what to do with disused railway lines and
increasing public demand for recreation spaces and activities (Bowers, 2000;
John Grimshaw & Associates, 1982; Leisure Information Network, 2003),
during the 1970s and 1980s, post-Fordist gentrification movements in North
America, Australia, New Zealand the UK and elsewhere began transforming
these landscapes of abandonment into linear recreation and tourism resources
known as rail-trails (Graham, 2004; Leisure Information Network, 2003;
Lipscombe & Geddis, 2000; Wandres, 2000; Wood & Lemery, 1994).
In the US, rail-trails are an extremely popular recreation resource (Figure
3.11). When the original railways were being developed a century ago or more
in the US, landowners were given the choice of selling the land or having it
taken from them under the code of 'eminent domain'. However, following
the decline in rail use, ownership of many kilometers of abandoned railway
corridors reverted back to previous landowners in the 1970s. Since the 1950s
and 1960s, more than 320,000 km of railroad lines have been abandoned in
the US, and estimates suggest that thousands of kilometers more are vacated
each year (Gibson, 1999; Wandres, 2000). Realizing the potential value of
preserving these linear passageways for potential future transportation
needs, the US government amended the 1968 National Trails System Act in
1976 via the Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act, which
Figure 3.11 A popular rail-trail in Illinois, USA