Benefits of the Greenways
Welcome to Cardinal Greenways! We are pleased you have chosen to use the trails and we trust your experience will be a positive one. Each year, approximately 250,000 people use the Greenways to walk, run, ride, rollerblade, horseback ride, explore their environment, bond with nature, search for animals and their habitats, take photos, or identify trees and birds. But trail users are not the only ones who benefit from trails. Trails benefit individuals, families, neighbors and neighborhoods and entire communities. In the case of the longest rail-trail in the state, Cardinal Greenway, we benefit much of East Central Indiana.
From Presidents to Governors to Mayors, political leaders have looked at trails as a way to provide green infrastructure and improve our quality of life. "Imagine every person in the US being within easy walking distance of a greenway that could lead around the entire nation. It can be done if we act soon. As early as 1985, President Reagan appointed a bipartisan commission to look ahead for a generation to determine how to meet the nation's needs for outdoor activities." Much of the 90's were spent building trails around the country, but when the state of Indiana joined forces in 2006 to create a state trails plan, the focus was on connections rather than individual trails.
The resulting document is called Hoosiers on the Move, The Indiana State Trails, Greenways & Bikeways Plan, and Chapter 3 is devoted entirely to the benefits of trails. As you read Chapter 3, you will notice benefits that apply to most trails.
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