What’s in a Name? Why Communities with Signature Trails are More Connected
Vibrant downtowns and Main Streets were the center of our communities before the pandemic. Whether we work essential jobs or work from home, live alone or with others, we are all seeking ways to feel more connected to each other and the world around us.
The answer, for many, is getting outside.
Trails have the power to encourage outdoor recreation and bring people together. Signature Trails, an initiative led by Alta, takes this one step further by embracing the unique character of communities and celebrating them through design and storytelling. These trails are loved by their communities, encourage outdoor recreation and environmental stewardship, attract a diverse range of use, and create a sense of place that serves as the focal point of a neighborhood, a city, or a region.
Here are six benchmarks of Signature Trails and why we believe they’re essential to a thriving community.
1. A Signature Trail prioritizes a sense of place.
The trail is reflective of the geographic region where it is located. The design is informed by the community’s heritage, the landscape, and the environment. It is a way to connect locations, but the trail itself is a destination and experience. The character of the region determines the trail’s features and the materials so people will learn about and better understand these places.
2. A Signature Trail connects people.
The trail is a link to and along key destinations in the community and region. It is a way to experience the places between the destinations with your friends, family, and neighbors. The slower pace of trails allows people to get closer to nature and appreciate their surroundings. Trails provide social connections, opportunity for social capital, and improved mental health. High quality trail features like wayfinding signs, interpretive sites, shade structures, and furnishings all contribute to and create a Signature Trail experience.
3. A Signature Trail creates significant economic benefits without displacing neighborhoods.
Whether making new connections to existing destinations or revitalizing neighborhoods, trails can be the catalyst for community pride and prosperity. An inclusive process that equitably centers community voices and uses data-driven planning, thoughtful design, and best practices for trail construction will result in a trail that will be used by everyone in the community and attract visitors and new businesses. Signature Trails also serve as opportunities for exercise and can help improve health and well-being. A healthier community reduces illness and healthcare costs, and keeps people active.
4. A Signature Trail attracts a broad range of use and provides equitable access to everyone.
Designed and built for all generations, income levels, and abilities, Signature Trails accommodate a wide variety of use and experience. Investing in and creating public spaces in partnership with community members that represent the inclusive, equitable, and access needs of the community helps build a trail where people feel welcome and connected.
5. A Signature Trail has a high standard of design.
The quality of thought and attention that goes into a Signature Trail is readily apparent. The trail uses high quality materials, purpose built amenities, and furnishings that reflect the local context and environment. The lighting, road crossings, and modal mixing zones are all designed with safety as the first priority, while maintaining the aesthetics of the overall design. This high standard makes Signature Trails points of pride among the communities where they are located.
6. A Signature Trail promotes environmental stewardship.
How a trail functions within the natural environment of a region can be a feature of the trail. Wetlands, wildlife habitat, terrain, threatened species, and cultural sites are often considered barriers and challenges when planning and designing trails. Signature Trails embrace and highlight these natural assets.
So what makes a trail unique and special, or celebrates a sense of place? Signature Trails use creative solutions to solve complex design challenges, center community voices during planning and design, and include design features that appeal to all walks of life. Following are a few examples of Alta-designed Signature Trails:
LA River
The landmark Los Angeles River Path project is one of the largest active transportation trail projects in the country, and will close an eight-mile gap in the path along the Los Angeles River (LA River) in downtown Los Angeles and Vernon. Once complete, the LA River Path will be a 32-mile continuous pathway for walking and biking from Long Beach to the San Fernando Valley, providing a world-class facility for Angelenos and the region.
The community-driven design approach focuses on user experience and legibility. Over the course of the seven-year project, Alta will be leading design development, assisting with the CEQA/NEPA process, developing construction documents, supporting Army Corps and local agency permitting, and providing construction support. In completing this Signature Trail, the Los Angeles County region will have an impressive, preeminent, and functional pathway for walking and biking to serve as a foundation and catalyst for active transportation across the region.
CVLink
CVLink connects seven cities across nearly 50 miles in the Coachella Valley, starting near the base of the San Jacinto Mountains in the northwest and moving to the southeast toward the Salton Sea. This Signature Trail uses color as a wayfinding and branding feature. The selected colors of orange and blue are present throughout all of the trail features. The colors are used on the surface of the pathway, wayfinding signs, furnishings, crosswalks, lights, and railings. They are oriented in a way that users traveling to the northwest, toward the mountains follow the orange color and those traveling toward the Salton Sea follow the blue color. The colors create a thematic experience that keeps the user confident that they are continuing in the intended direction without having to read signs or other landmarks.
Razorback Greenway
The Razorback Greenway is a 37-mile trail that connects four major cities in northwest Arkansas. One of these cities is Springdale. Historically known as the center of the poultry industry in Arkansas, Downtown Springdale had become a mostly abandoned downtown with a town square that was empty most of the year. The Razorback Greenway was designed to go right through the heart of downtown. In addition, as an extension of the trail, a new downtown park was built on the banks of Spring Creek, which had until then flowed through a pipe below the downtown area. Even before the park was completed, Downtown Springdale began to come back to life with new shops and restaurants opening near the Razorback Greenway. Since the park opened, Downtown Springdale has found new life with its downtown park serving as a hub of activity for residents and visitors alike.
Rio Grande Trail
The cross-state Rio Grande Trail, stretching over 500 miles from Mexico to Colorado, is an ambitious master plan to develop one of the premier Signature Trail experiences in the country. Starting from the High Desert in the north with elevations over 7,000 feet, the river and proposed trail descend through New Mexico, touching diverse communities including the mountain villages of Taos, the vibrant city of Albuquerque, and the farms and ranches of Las Cruces. Themes of the Old West, Native American culture, agricultural traditions, wide open spaces, and the precious water provided by the Rio Grande River — the lifeblood of the region — drove the planning process. The plan included extensive field work, data collection, alignment options, design concepts, and an implementation strategy that will serve as the guidebook to implement this jewel of the southwest over the next 20 years.
Want more examples? Learn more about Alta’s Signature Trails practice.
Alta is at the forefront of trail planning and design, and active in the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals, the Institute of Transportation Engineers, and the American Society of Landscape Architects. We have authored white papers, best practices, and developed proprietary models for trail and greenway projects across the country. Alta is regularly asked to participate in national panel discussions including the TrailNation Summit, International Trails Symposium, the Collaboration of Regional Trail Initiatives, and American Trails’ Advancing Trails webinar series.
