Monticello, WI

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2024

Project Category: Trails

Description: To connect two multiuse trails with Monticello's downtown, this project will add bike racks, wayfinding signage, benches, bike lanes crosswalk paint and new trees.

Valdez, AK

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2022

Project Category: Trails

Description: This project modified a popular local trail to accommodate wheelchair and stroller users, as well as other visitors who have limited or different mobility abilities.

Worcester, VT

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021

Project Category: Trails

Description: Organizers with the Vermont River Conservancy wanted to allow people of all ages and abilities to enjoy the newly created North Branch Cascades Trail. To make the one-mile route accessible, they worked with a professional trail builder to make the path ADA-compliant. Additionally, VRC added amenities including benches, picnic tables and a privy. To help visitors navigate, they created trail maps and added wayfinding signs marking scenic overlooks and swimming holes along the trail. The improved trail has a gentle grade, which allows people who use wheelchairs to roll all the way to the river's edge. This is something many trails can't offer since river access often involves a scramble down a steep bank. Organizers say the North Branch Cascades Trail has since inspired conversations about how to increase accessibility at other hiking routes in the region.