Senate Transportation hears rail-trails budget briefing; official highlights usage, funding and accessibility projects

Jackie Casino, rail trails program manager at the Agency of Transportation, told the Senate Transportation committee that the state manages 145 miles of railbanked trails across four corridors and that the network runs through 31 towns with 27 trailheads, 90 bridges and 738 culverts.

Casino said trail use is robust and measured: permanent counters show the LVRT in Morristown averages about 200 daily trips (roughly 75,000 annually), while the BB Spur averages about 160 daily and up to 10,000 trips a year. She said 431 users completed the program’s most recent annual survey and 461 businesses are registered with a trail-friendly business program. "The economic impact of these trails cannot be overstated," Casino told the committee, citing a 2023 study that projected about $4.7 million in annual sales and as many as 75 jobs tied to…