George Andrews Wrote:
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> " The rails to trails folks haven't got a clue...
> " Yea but do they have the political connections
> to pull this deal off ??? Some of those old hippie
> pot - heads are now in positions of authority up
> there.

Thanks for all the comments bashing the rail-to-trail folks.

I was under the impression that bicycling has major health, energy and air pollution benefits. Thanks for setting me straight that these issues aren't worth worrying about and we should continue to get more obese while we while consuming more fossil fuels in our automobiles.

Referring to public officials who support rail-trails as hippie pot - heads truly elevates the level of discussion.

I biked the Route of the Hiawatha Trail in Idaho a few years ago and had a good time biking the trail, reading the historic plaques, and trying to imagine Milwaukee Road trains snaking through the curves, crossing ravines on the tall trestles, and poking through the tunnels in the Bitterroot Mountains. How very wrong I was to think that was all a good thing. Of course, it would have been better to let it all fall apart.

As for other abandoned railroads, lets just allow the corridors to revert to adjacent property owners. If the former rail ROW was needed for a rail project, the government would need to pay a mint to the property owners (who as NIMBYs would even more staunchly oppose a new rail line than the rail-trail folks). Yup, that's the best outcome imaginable as long as the rail-trail folks are never accommodated.

Thank God for the new TEA Party gang in Congress. They will try to end federal funding of rail-trails so that there will be no more of this nonsense of riding bicycles or walking trails. After all, we know that real Americans don't ride bicycles or take long walks anywhere.