Brochure Focus Questions

What types of benefits do trails provide?

• What types of economic benefits are there?
• What types of health benefits are there?
• What types of social benefits are there?
• What types of environmental benefits are there?
• Also include a picture of a nice trail with someone walking on it.

How do the economic aspects of building the trail look?

• What types of funding are available?
• What are some of the things that will add to the cost to the project?
• How much will those things cost?

Is building the trails feasible?

• Are the trails publicly supported?
• Does it seem beneficial to build them, in the long run?
• Include a side by side picture of a widely used trail versus the experimental forest.

Where should the trails be located?

• What main roads should the trails be constructed along?
• Relative to the road, where should the trails be placed? (i.e. Along the side, separated by some grass, or etc.)
• Include visuals of trail possibilities and of the roads.

-Team Post (we all met and agreed to the focus questions)

Brochure Update

A few images used in the Brochure will be the Logo. This logo shows our group name and a green Clemson paw. The green accents show our focus on nature and environmental preservation.

Bike treads are placed around the brochure to show the focus on biking and the outdoors. These treads are simple outlines for the brochure but give a nice frame for images and text.

The front of the brochure shows a beautiful image of the Blue Ridge Mountains. These mountains are an amazing back drop to this trail system. 

-Robert Stafford

Funding

·      Government Grants

·      Local Department of Transportation, SCDOT: Administer the SAFETEA-LU Federal funding. These programs require zero and twenty percent local matching of funds given.

·      Sponsors: Clemson University, The Town of Six Mile, Daniel High School, and Local Businesses

·      Fundraising: Local Businesses

·      State Funding: Safe Routes to School, recreational Trails Program, Highway Safety Improvement Program, Community Development Block Grants

·      Taxes: Some states implement a fraction of the sales tax to help with trail improvement. Other states have a bike tax that is charged per bike to help generate revenue for upkeep of trails.

·      Programs:  American Greenways Program, Bikes Belong Grant, Adopt a Bikeway, Sidewalk or trail Program. 

-Robert Stafford

Route Scouting - Level II

I found the Pickens County GIS system online, so I was able to scout the property on the route I already discussed.

 This is a GIS map of a portion of Hwy 133 from Six Mile to Clemson. Each plot of land is denoted in black borders, and I have highlighted Hwy 133 in red. The small grey dots within the plots are buildings. As you can see, a majority of the plots adjacent to the road (and therefore capable of diverting the bike path from the direct roadside) are very small. This is likely residential property, and the more small residential plots that must be traversed by the path, the more bureaucracy, legal wrangling, and potential expense must be incurred as more and more property owners are dealt with. A more efficient strategy is to find plots of land adjacent to the road with large amounts of road frontage. In the context of this area of Pickens County, these are likely farms. Regardless of what the specific tracts are, since they offer a great deal of road frontage and are all owned by the same owner, they can more easily be negotiated with for the right to let the trail wander onto their property.

White-filled boxes marked by letters show such tracts of land. Sites A, B, and D are all owned by private citizens, and from the building markers, they are composed primarily of open land. The topography of the map suggests this land is relatively flat, too. Each plot is over 50 acres, so with that much open land and only one property owner to deal with, these would be good spots at which the trail could be purposely diverted from the road to create a more scenic bike path. Sites C, E, F, and G are portions of the Clemson experimental forest, and so they are guaranteed to be somewhat scenic, and hopefully the university will be willing to allow some of its land to be used for a bike path.

Yellow-filled boxes marked with numbers show points of interest that the trail could make special efforts to be diverted towards. Site 1 is one of the main entrances to the Issaqueena Lake section of the experimental forest (with access to many rugged trails). Site 2 is Daniel High School. Site 3 is the approximate location of Twelve Mile Recreation Area.

The next and final step of this process is to parse all this information into some sort of map that is user friendly and can be thrown onto our brochure.

-Cailen

Route Scouting

This isn't quite yet the map that will be ready for the brochure, but I have done some intial route scouting for the trail. I am working on narrowing down exact pathways next.

These are the potential routes that I drove today. I was scouting along as I drove for the general terrain, the existing usage of the land around the routes (is it forested, meaning lots of cost to cut a trail, or is it just a bunch of fields that won’t require much teardown cost?), the types of properties along the way (and therefore the likelihood of the property owners to donate some land if the trail is off the road), any important facilities that might be nice to link the trail to, and also the number and potential length of any water crossings. I also tried to notice the traffic in case the bike path has to be built close to the road.

After scouting these routes, I can pretty much say that anything except Route B is far too cumbersome to work with. Both Routes A and C get extremely hilly around their water crossings, to the point that it would discourage casual bikers if left alone or involve great expense to make them more friendly to casual bikers. The route highlighted in orange is kind of a “northern limit” on the relative unfriendliness to casual bikers. Above this line, the road and land is relatively flat, and there is a power line close to the orange line that could potentially serve as a low-cost pathway to go between the upper parts of A and C and the rest of B. However, the land traversed by the orange route is also very hilly, and so crossing over from route to route is not advisable in terms of biker friendliness.

So, the final conclusion is something along Route B is the best option. If we stray too far away from Route B, we will quickly get into very hilly terrain, and even staying directly next to the road involves negotiating a few long, low-graded hills. Additionally, Route B passes very closely to Daniel High School, Twelve Mile Recreation Area, and the main entrance to the Issaqueena Lake area of the experimental forest, so it can serve as an easy route for someone to get to these important places.

Next up, I am going to attempt to see if there is a GIS online map of the area, so I can get an idea of who owns the property adjacent to this route. At the most basic, we can throw a bike lane on Hwy 133 (which is looking like the most cost-effective option), but having an idea of what the property ownership is could give some guidance if we have to deviate from the bike lane.

-Cailen

Six Mile Trail

These pictures are of the multi-use Dalton Road Trail Pictures. The first of the pictures shows what the road looks like on the way from Six Mile to Clemson (i.e 133). That was a pictures of the road connecting near Six Mile. The other pictures were of the actual Dalton Road Leisure Trail in Six Mile. Overall, the trail wasn't up to the standard that it could have been. The trail itself was of an old dirt road that was closed off, without anything special done to it. The ground was uneven all over and one of the people running with me almost had gotten a sprained ankle because of it. There had been some adjustments though, such as the bridge. The bridge itself was well constructed, sturdy, and had a good view. Other than that, there were some side trails that were available. I happen to run on one of them and it was very narrow, somewhat steep, and very enjoyable. Although not very well maintained, the trail had a somewhat clear path that was very fun to run. In the end, the multi-use trail was good for running the same can not be said for biking. 

If someone was to bike on this, my assumption is that the trip would end badly. It was hard enough not to trip well running. Biking would have extremely hard not to fall. Also the side trail, such as the one we ran on, would have been impossible to have biked on. The most important biking factor about Six Mile has nothing to do the multi-purpose trail though. After my visit, the clear thing needed for pedestrians and bikers is a path on the side of the road. The road itself, as seen in the first picture, barely has enough room for two cars let alone a biker or walker. I observed one such biker trying to go up a hill on the very far right of the road. He nearly stopped traffic until it became more clear. I'll admit there isn't too much room to add extra space on the side of the road, but there is just enough to add space for bikers and walkers. As a result, the main focus of our goal should be to add extra road to the sides of the streets in order to allow room for the pedestrians and bicyclists. It would help with the speed of traffic and the safely of people the most. 

On a side note, I did happen to go to the botanical gardens this weekend at Clemson. If we were able to improve the multi-use trail, making it similar to the gardens would perfect. The gardens themselves are some of the greatest trail I've seen. Maintained, Beautiful, peaceful, and friendly the trail is great for all ages and a prefect model for what other trails could be.

-Alex Whitman

Research Update -Alex Whitman

   The research that I have been conducting is associated with the benefits of trails and people’s opinions towards them. Greatly impacting our project, the opinions and benefits of the trails are one of the major reasons for the consideration of construction. Without providing enough evidence of public support and positive reason for the construction, the public may not want to build the trails.

   The research I have conducted so far, and will continue to conduct, follows the thought process from: what types of health, economic, environmental, and social benefits do the trails create. It also includes the question of; as a result of the benefits created from the trails, is there public approval for more construction?

From the research I have gathered so far I have observed the following:

·       Health benefits- Trails promote exercise, decreasing hospital stays by 30%, and reducing insurance claims by 14%.

·       Environmental Benefits- Trails have been lowering urban temperatures and have help reduced carbon emissions.

·       Social Benefits- Areas near trails have seen a reduction in crime rate, tend to have a greater sense of pride, and tend to be more appealing due to the greener perception.

·       Economic Benefits- Trails have shown to increase property value, increase worker productivity/ improve job satisfaction, and increase tourism revenue.

Lastly, a survey of the people’s opinions on the trails is to come. I will post my further finding and the results of the survey when I later obtain them. Please let me know if there is anything that you think that I should add to my research or the survey.

Thanks

-Alex Whitman

More Survery Questions

Here are some more survey question to add to the ones the Cailen already posted

1.) From a scale of 1 to 5 how willing would you be to pay more taxes a month to be able to have a build and maintain trail, with 1 being very unwilling and 5 being very willing?

2.) How much to do enjoy walking outside on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 meaning you find walking outside dreadful and 5 being you find it very joyful?

3.) Do you live with your family? If so how many family members do you live with?

4.) From which of the following age groups do you belong to?

5.) Are you a male or female?

(I put those questions in there because it gives us the information of what types of people live in area and would be most likely to go on trails versus those that don’t [i.e family versus student]. Also it can give us an estimate of the population that we are trying to sell the trails to)

6.) From a scale of 1 to how much more likely would you use trails if there was some form of a bathroom every mile, with 1 being very unwilling and 5 being very willing? Every 2 miles?

-Alex Whitman

Research Update - Cailen Sniker

Hey everyone,

I've been starting my research on the construction methods and locations for the trail by looking at the Bikeville plan in use by Greenville, SC. A lot of this plan provides information on how to develop bike pathways that coincide with major roads, such as bike lanes. There is some guidance on newly-created bike-only paths. This brings up a valid point about our plan, though. Are we going to focus on a bike-only path, shared usage with existing roads, or hybridize in the middle somewhere? My thoughts on each approach below:

Bike-only path: This will provide the shortest distance between Six Mile and Clemson. A path would probably need to be cut through the overlapping areas of Clemson Experimental Forest and any residential areas between Six Mile and the intersection of Old Six Mile Highway and Six Mile Highway (Hwy. 133). From that intersection onward, lake crossings are frequent and to have a bike-only path many bridges would need to be built. Cutting through residential areas and private property brings about property rights issues, and cutting through the experimental forest could bring us into conflict with Clemson University. Also, the terrain around the  lake can be very hilly, so this might discourage users if the ride is too difficult, or incur greater construction costs if the hills are graded down to make them flat.

Road-only path: This will provide the lowest initial construction costs since we can use existing lake crossings and don't need to worry about flattening out hilly areas. However, it will take away from the scenic nature of the trail and it might also make the trail longer than a newly-cut path would be.

Hybrid: I believe this is the best approach. For cost reasons, we almost have to use existing roads once we reach a lake crossing, which there will be many of regardless of how we route the pathway (unless we really make it long and circumnavigate the entire lake). This also prevents property issues assuming we can get the cooperation of whichever level of government controls any particular road. We can still create some brand-new pathways through scenic areas to attract recreational users, and as long as we balance the length of the path with the desire for scenic views, we can hopefully end up with a multi-segmented trail that is in some places just a bike lane on the road and in others a full-fledged newly-cut pathway. We could even consider two bikeways: a "scenic route" through the forest that emphasizes lake views and wilderness, and a "utilitarian route" that simply follows the major roads and is designed to be a no-fuss way to get from Six Mile to Clemson on a bike.

-Cailen Sniker

Survey Questions: "Where?" and "How?"

These are the questions I think the public needs to answer pertaining to how the trail will be built and where it will be located.

(1) If a trail existed for biking and hiking use between Six Mile and Clemson, would your likelihood of using it be affected by how long it was? How so?

(2) Would your likelihood of using this trail be affected by whether the trail was paved or not? How so?

(3) Assuming you would use this trail regularly, would it be for pure recreation or do you think it would become a necessary commuting path you would rely on?

(4) How many times per week do you think you would use a trail like this?

(5) Would having this trail pass nearby to commercial or industrial locations affect your likelihood of using it? How close to these locations would you be comfortable with?

(6) Would you be opposed to this trail passing nearby to your house or the house of a loved one? How close are you comfortable with it being to these locations?

(7) Would your likelihood of using this trail be affected by how closely it approached to Lake Hartwell? How so?

(8) Would you be comfortable using this trail if parts of it ran directly alongside a major highway or other road? Would the proximity to high-traffic roads affect your likelihood of using the trail?

Some of these questions may end up being redundant with other areas of research, but these are the ones that will help me guide my research into the materials needed to build the trail and the location of it.

-Cailen Sniker

New Logo

Hey guys, I was just toying with the idea of a project logo. Let me know what you think.

-Robert Stafford

Primary Questions

1.)    Does Six Mile need more Trails? Why should we try and build more trails?

a.      What are some of the benefits that more trails would create?

                                                    i.     Would this create more jobs?

                                                   ii.     Would it boost the local tourism of the area?

                                                  iii.     Will the area gain more value as a result of more accessibility?

                                                  iv.     Does the environment benefit from this?

b.      Are the trails logical?

                                                    i.     Is it a quick and safe way to travel?

                                                   ii.     Will the people of the area use them to exercise?

2.)    What would the total cost be for the Project?

a.      Who is going to create the trails? (labor costs)

b.      Where will we get the materials to build the trails? (material cost)

c.      How much will the land cost to build more trails? (real estate cost)

                                                    i.     Are there locals who would be willing to donate parts of their land for public trails?

d.      How much will it cost to be able to keep the trails in good condition? (Maintenance cost)

3.)    How will the Project get funded?

a.      Will this increase the local taxes? The state taxes?

b.      Are there any individuals that may want to contribute or own the trails?

c.      Is there any program that may add funding?

d.      Are there are any grants that are available?

4.)    Where are we going to build the Trails?

a.      How we will design them?

                                                    i.     What types of trails do we want to create( i.e. Cement, gravel etc)?

                                                   ii.     What types of trails would be more cost effective?

                                                  iii.     What types of trails would people prefer to have?

b.      What are some of the other trails that we can build off of?

c.      Could there be new roads or bridges that could be built, that would create less congested traffic and create new trail path, at the same time?

5.)    What are the people’s opinions about the Trails?

a.      Do they want trails at all?

b.      Do they want the trails to connect to other areas?

c.      How can we gather support for our project?

6.)    What types of people can we meet with to see about trying to get the ball rolling?

a.      Are there other groups looking accomplish a similar goal?

That is the list of the questions that I came with up. If you have any more to add you can comment below and I will go in and edit the post later. Also we need to decide who is doing what types of questions. I am going to leave it free for everyone to choose for now, but if the questions aren’t all distributed or distributed fairly I will assign topics for each team member, according to their background and which topics may fit best. If you would like a certain topic please comment below to claim it.

-Alex Whitman

Blog Update

So, I looked at some of the other blogs and the syllabus a little closer. I'm am going to try and make the blog look more pleasing to the eyes and create some general assignments for us to do, hopefully by the end of tonight. Then we can discuss who we think needs to do what. I'll keep you posted if I won't be able to have this done by the end of tonight.

-Alex Whitman

SC trails in the area

http://www.sctrails.net/Trails/alltrails/Multi-use/Dalton%20Road%20Ride.html


Here is a link to the SC trail site which shows a few trails which run our route from Six Mile to Clemson. This will also be a great site for other groups. 


-Robert Stafford

General Area

Here is a picture of the general area as well as how to get there from Clemson. We can try to figure where we might want to put trails with further investigation. More pictures soon to come.

-Alex Whitman

Today is our blog's first day in existence. We are trying to figure out what exactly our assignment is, but we are brainstorming ideas of how to connect Clemson to Six Mile using biking and hiking trails. Expect pictures and videos in the near future.

-Cailen