Over the past decades many abandoned railroad right-of-ways have been acquired by government agencies, conservancy groups and trail organizations for conversion to foot and/or bicycle use.  While some are held in a “rail bank” many have been improved and are enjoying recreational use.

Many trail users are unfamiliar with an existing railroad milepost address system for reporting emergencies.  Out of area users are not familiar with local place names, access point names or significant descriptive emergency reporting points. 

GPS “map plotting” trails makes sense and is accomplished in much the same way as the railroad right of way process. “Map plotting” is usually done from ATV or similar vehicle capturing many of the earlier rail landmark features; mileposts, road or street intersections, 911 jurisdictions, bridges, tunnels, place/trail names and major utility crossings. Custom features can be added.  

For trails, additional features are captured to include; gated access points, trail comfort stations, benches/tables and parking locations.

CTA provides 911 centers/emergency planners with a searchable data base of identified trail points, hard copy maps showing map points and adjacent roadways. CTA also provides a computer .shp (shape) file which is an electronic map layer for higher technology agencies.  While enhanced emergency response is the primary purpose of CTA “map plotting”, trail managers find it useful for; managing maintenance, developing adoption sections, working with contract vendors, maintaining an inventory of trail objects/infrastructure and promoting user safety. 

Quotes are usually done by the mile and funding sources can include; 911 telephone surcharge funds, trail improvement allocation, benefactor or fund raising by user organizations.  Projects require interaction and cooperation from local emergency management.  The CTA process provides a tool for pre-planning emergency response.