State of the Trails 2019

Some key findings

Overall, Minnesota’s paved state trail system was in good condition in 2018.

Good or Excellent
Miles 75%
Fair
Miles 20%
Poor or Very Poor
Miles 6%

Nonetheless, conditions are declining and without action, could prove dire in coming years.

 

  • Between 2016 and 2018, the trails in excellent or good condition fell from 79% to 75%, while those in poor or worse condition increased from 4% to 6%.
  • If current trends continue, we project that only 50% of state trails will be in good or excellent condition by 2030.
Our Recommendations
Establish a trail conditions standard of 25-50-25.

A reasonable standard would keep 25% of the system’s trail surfaces in excellent condition, 50% in good, and 25% in fair. 

Accelerate trail rehab to 24 miles annually.

The MnDNR currently completes about 14 miles of trail rehabilitation annually.

At this rate, by the year 2034 less than half of state trail miles will be in excellent or good condition, in other words, the majority will be fair to very poor condition.

Fund trail rehab at $4.8 million annually.

We estimate maintaining a 25-50-25 standard will cost approximately $4.8 million annually.

This assumes rehabilitating 24 miles annually at an average cost of $200,000 per mile.