How to Invest Locally

Geauga County has a good bike path, really a multi-purpose trail, called the "Maple Highlands Trail" which follows former railroad grades. I ride on there several days a week as part different loops I use for my rides. I generally ride out some country roads and maybe do some hill climbs or put in some miles then make my way back home on the trail.

I looked up the total cost of the system. It's very low compared to similar lengths of road. Large bridges on the bike path are a tiny fraction of the cost of bridges along the road, like $200,000 versus $1.5M. The bike path infrastructure doesn't have to carry semi trucks or heavy equipment, of course. Also it makes use of the old railbed and is a fraction of the width of a two lane road so it's inherently less expensive than a road.

The system cost maybe $750k - $1M altogether over the span of several years and is about 21 miles long. One section of the system is a dual purpose road for Amish buggies to bypass a steep hill along State Route 608. I believe all the pavement of the system is original even though it's about 20 years old now. It's in pretty good condition overall. Even 20 years on, its potential benefit to residents and businesses is barely realized.

$1M per 35,321 households in Geauga County is only $28! Over 20 years that's $1.41 per household per year. The number of people with a Strava account that have ridden the trail is about 2,100. Some estimate about only about 5% of cyclists use Strava so at least 40,000 people total have ridden the trail in just the last 10 years or so. Similar numbers of runners and walkers use the trail as well. The vast majority use it for recreation or exercise. A tiny handful of people use it for transportation and commuting. A large fraction of the total population of the county, then, used the trail system, plus visitors use the system as well.

Anyway, it's one of the rare no-brainer, manifestly beneficial infrastructure projects I've seen in my lifetime. If it were hooked up with neighboring county rails-to-trails system it would be even more beneficial and if it were combined with other infrastructure projects that would not impact its primary purpose it would be even more valuable. For example, maybe there's some need for telecom conduit and fiber optic infrastructure via those paths. I have no idea if that's the case, but it's just an obvious potential scenario that could add more value to such projects. Even lower cost infrastructure would be useful for horseback riding, gravel bikes, mountain bikes and even road bikes.