BROADCASTS.com

Earlier this month, the Biden administration announced $8.2 billion in funding for selected high-speed rail projects across the country. One major rail project that is receiving support will connect Las Vegas and Los Angeles; another will connect several cities in California, including Los Angeles and San Francisco. \u201cAmerica disinvested over the last many decades in our rail systems,\u201d said Pete Buttigieg, secretary of the US Department of Transportation. \u201cWe\u2019re reversing that trend.\u201d\n\nOne result of this disinvestment and additional challenges in the rail industry is a large number of abandoned railroad lines. But, although many of these railroad lines no longer carry trains, the lines have been put to new transportational use. In this rebroadcasted episode, host Margaret Walls talks with Peter Harnik, cofounder of the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, about grassroots and legislative efforts to repurpose abandoned railroad lines as recreational trails. Harnik discusses why the United States has so many abandoned railroad lines, the process of converting a railroad line into a trail, and the legislation that provides funding for trail projects.\n\nReferences and recommendations:\n\n\u201cFrom Rails to Trails: The Making of America\u2019s Active Transportation Network\u201d by Peter Harnik; https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/nebraska/9781496222060/\n\nRails-to-Trails Conservancy; https://www.railstotrails.org/\n\n\u201cStolen Focus\u201d by Johann Hari; https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/634289/stolen-focus-by-johann-hari/