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Kachemak Heritage Land Trust (2019) Print
2019 AARP Community Challenge Grantee
Project Category
Transportation
└ Trails
└ Trails
To welcome visitors of all abilities, the Kachemak Heritage Land Trust installed large-font signage on its Poopdeck Platt property. Part of long-term efforts to create an accessible trail on the site, the signs display QR codes, which link to recordings of local people reading the sign text accompanied by soothing music. The park is in downtown Homer, and the trail connects Homer's Independent Living Center to nearby Bishop's Beach. Today, the property is home to a story walk and the local library has plans to expand the trail, with a focus on local indigenous history. Since installing the signposts, the Land Trust has referenced their design to inspire signage at kiosks along other trails.
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See More Projects Like This One
Bethel, VT
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2018
Project Category: Trails
Description: Many amenities in Bethel are only accessible by car. To encourage active transportation instead, the Town created a path for walking, biking and cross-country skiing. The multiuse trail runs from the town's elementary school to the town's new outdoor recreation area. Organizers hope the new path helps residents reach several upgraded recreational facilities nearby, including a new pool house and skate park. Spurred by the pathway's popularity, the Town is exploring ways to construct connector pathways to expand the trail network. By encouraging people to walk, organizers say the multiuse path will support Bethels economy, connecting pedestrians to local businesses.
Deer Lodge, MT
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2017
Project Category: Trails
Description: To give residents a new way to access Deer Lodge's commercial district, the Powell County Parks Board built a trail connector linking up a park in the town's residential area. To enable construction, the County worked with a landowner to secure a public access easement through his property. Then the County's road crew donated its time, labor and equipment to prepare the site, installing and relocating culverts. Additionally, the Board hired a contractor to build fencing along the easement, creating a border for the trail. Before, residents had to walk along a 45-mile-per-hour highway to reach businesses and the local medical center. But since construction, Deer Lodge has continued to improve its trail system, which the City has identified as an essential feature of its ongoing downtown revitalization efforts.
Bethlehem, NY
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2017
Project Category: Trails
Description: As part of its efforts to bring public art to the Albany County Helderberg-Hudson Rail Trail, the Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy created a mural along the trail in the Town of Bethlehem. Project organizers chose a local artist from a pool of applicants to paint the mural, which depicts a surreal landscape and adorns a formerly graffitied wall. Since then, the Art on the Rail Trail (ART) initiative has installed several more murals, as well as a mini art gallery and arts programming. The trail is popular with pedestrians and cyclists in warm weather and cross-county skiers and snowshoe hikers in the winter.
Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects
AK
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2023
Project Category: Accessory dwelling units, tiny homes and manufactured housing
Description: This project will collect and analyze ordinances regulating accessory dwelling units (ADUs) with the aim of creating a best practices toolkit and a model ordinance for communities.
Anchorage, AK
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2017
Project Category: Engaging people in transportation options/safety
Description: Alaska Trails worked with Bike Anchorage to shape sustainable transportation in Anchorage. The two organizations educated residents about the city's Non-Motorized Transportation Plan, an effort to integrate bike, pedestrian and train networks into a multi-modal system. They also informed residents about Anchorage's Complete Streets policy, which aims to remake city streets to safely accommodate pedestrians, bicyclists, drivers and bus riders of all ages and abilities. In addition, Alaska Trails supported Safe Routes to School, an initiative that promotes walking and bicycling to school. This outreach effort included social media posts, print and television news coverage and a newsletter. Alaska Trails continues to work to encourage locals to use the state's trails and each year Bike Anchorage holds a Winter Bike Fest to promote cycling in the city.
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