Emily Burnaman
By the NRVT Delegation: Jeanne Kelly, Andrea Gartner NRVT Board Members: Luke Garvey, Leo Papadopoulos, Emily Burnaman
How do we build trails that connect communities and help them thrive?
That question brought our Norwalk River Valley Trail Board to New Haven on October 2, 2026. At the 8th Annual CT Trail Symposium at Southern Connecticut State University, we joined trail advocates from across Connecticut to explore the 'Benefits of Greenways' and bring useful ideas home to Fairfield County.
NRVT also participated in the symposium’s planning committee, making this an opportunity to contribute as well as learn. We were glad to help support a gathering devoted to the work we share: creating welcoming trails and stronger connections between people and places.
A statewide gathering with a shared purpose
The Connecticut Trail Symposium brings together volunteers, trail managers, municipal and regional officials, property owners, and outdoor-recreation partners to exchange ideas and practical knowledge. Connecticut DEEP and the Connecticut Greenways Council hosted this year’s event, with UConn’s CT Trails Program, Extension, and CLEAR among its organizing partners.
The gathering is growing. In her post-event recap, UConn CT Trails Program Coordinator Laura Kelly reported almost 200 registrants, the symposium’s largest registration to date.
That represents a substantial network of people working through many of the same questions:
How do we close the gaps?
What ways can we improve access?
Maintain what we build?
Explain why trails deserve investment?
Opening remarks from New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker and Acting DEEP Commissioner Emma Cimino and keynote speaker JT Horn of Trust for Public Land explored the connections among trails, community, local economies, and public health.
For our board members, the value was both practical and personal: useful information, opportunities to network, and the pleasure of discovering what fellow trail advocates are accomplishing.
Connected trails can help local businesses thrive
One of our strongest takeaways came from Dan Hodge of Cambridge Econometrics, whose presentation examined the economic benefits of the New Haven & Northampton Canal Greenway.
Our team notes highlighted the presentation’s usefulness in conversations with governments and funders. It offered evidence to accompany something trail users often recognize firsthand: a walk or ride can also mean a stop at a café, a bicycle repair, or a visit to a nearby business.
Cambridge Econometrics’ November 2025 study estimated that a completed New Haven & Northampton Canal Greenway could generate $32 million - $53.8 million annually in direct spending across its Connecticut and Massachusetts corridor. That projection includes spending by local users and visitors; it is not an estimate for NRVT or Fairfield County.
The lesson for us is to think about connections as well as mileage. A continuous route can help people reach destinations and give visitors more reasons to explore. NRVT Board Members also came away from a presentation on long-distance gravel and mountain-bike routes with a fresh appreciation for bicycle tourism and Connecticut’s broader trail opportunities.
For NRVT, these examples suggest useful questions: Which destinations could future connections serve? How can we better understand trail users’ needs? And how can local businesses participate in a welcoming trail experience?
Health belongs in the trail conversation
Economic value is only part of the story. The symposium also reinforced the importance of community health, a theme our team identified as relevant to future conversations with potential supporters.
Research elsewhere offers a helpful illustration. A MassTrails study examining four Massachusetts shared-use paths, with data collected from July through October 2019, reported increased physical activity among nearby residents and estimated $2.8 million in combined healthcare-expenditure savings across those paths in 2019. These are study estimates, not measured NRVT savings or a guaranteed outcome for another community.
There are practical examples close to home, too. The symposium highlighted Yale New Haven Hospital’s physician-led “Walk and Talk with a Doc” program on the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail: a free opportunity to combine walking, health education, and community connection.
For us, that expands the conversation about what a trail can offer. Alongside recreation and alternative transportation, there may be opportunities to explore appropriate partnerships that help more people feel comfortable getting outside and being active.
Accessibility depends on the whole journey
A trail’s usefulness depends on more than its surface. Getting to it, navigating connections, and crossing between sections also matter.
NRVT Board Member, Jason's notes from “When Connecticut’s Trails Become a Network” emphasized multi-town transportation and access for people with different physical abilities. The session paired regional planning with perspectives from Achilles International Connecticut, which supports athletes with disabilities.
The published presentation description makes an important connection: the continuity and quality of a network help determine who can benefit from it. A missing link or difficult crossing is therefore more than a gap on a map.
That is directly relevant to NRVT’s mission: to design, build, and maintain a universally accessible, multi-use, 30-mile trail linking Norwalk, Wilton, Redding, Ridgefield, and Danbury. It remains a trail we are working to complete, not a finished end-to-end route.
Seeing how trail connections can serve people well beyond a walk or ride was also a big highlight for our team. Presentations explored everything from walking and biking prescriptions and potential health-sector partnerships to shared bikes that help people reach trailheads. The Cross New Hampshire Adventure Trail offered another inspiring example: linking existing routes into a longer adventure that encourages visitors to explore local communities.
Presented in a use-case from the City of New Haven: promoting more opportunities for micro-mobility with the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail by Haley Simpson, Director of Transportation, City of New Haven. For Board Member, Emily, it had her come away thinking about how NRVT can connect not only our five towns, but also the businesses, destinations, and everyday opportunities that make our trail more useful and welcoming.
NRVT Board Member, Leo, came away interested in New Haven’s bicycle infrastructure and resources that could inform further learning. His notes also identified Trust for Public Land’s real-estate expertise as something worth exploring when thinking about future property and easement questions. These are potential resources, not new agreements or announced projects.
That is part of what makes this gathering enjoyable. Alongside technical information, there are new trails to discover and people whose experience can help answer a question, or help us ask a better one.
We attended to learn more ways to advance the NRVT and came away with reasons to enjoy more of Connecticut’s trail community too.
Bringing the lessons home to Fairfield County
The symposium gave all of us useful directions to consider:
Use credible research to explain trail benefits while being clear about what has, and has not, been measured locally.
Keep accessibility and continuity central to conversations about connections.
Explore relationships with businesses, health organizations, and fellow trail advocates.
Learn from other communities rather than starting every problem from scratch.
Those ideas support the five-town partnership at the heart of NRVT. Our mission joins trail building with health, wellbeing, and alternative transportation for everyone in our community. The symposium offered fresh perspectives on how those goals can reinforce one another.
Consider joining next year
You do not have to be an engineer or a lifelong trail advocate to bring something valuable to this conversation. The symposium welcomes a broad trail community, including volunteers, public officials, trail managers, and other interested partners.
Stay connected with NRVT for trail news and opportunities to get involved. Whether you walk, roll, ride, volunteer, or support the work, you are part of building a more connected Fairfield County.
Reprinted from https://www.nrvt.org/
