Building Accessible Trails

Photo by Timber & Stone / Melissa Blackall

Resources for designing, building, and adapting existing trails so that everyone can enjoy Vermont’s natural beauty

Getting Started with the Trail Accessibility Hub

Welcome to the Trail Accessibility Hub! We’re here to help you enhance accessibility and inclusivity on trails across Vermont. Whether you’re looking to design new trails, adapt existing ones, or simply learn more about best practices, you’ve come to the right place. Explore our resources to get started.

Accessibility Guidelines

Interpreting Guidelines

There are numerous guidelines available, tailored to the type of trail being built, the landowner or manager, and the available funding. These guidelines cover not just the trail itself but also essential elements like parking, signage, bathrooms, picnic tables, and other amenities that enhance the overall outdoor trail experience.

Learn more about each of the guidelines below.

US Access Board Architectural Barriers Act (ABA) Standards

The U.S. Access Board’s guide, “Accessibility Standards for Federal Outdoor Developed Areas,” provides comprehensive guidelines for creating accessible outdoor environments. This resource covers various aspects of accessibility, including trails, picnic areas, campgrounds, and beaches. It addresses critical elements such as surface materials, slopes, widths, and clearances to ensure outdoor spaces are inclusive and accessible for people with disabilities. Whether you’re designing new outdoor facilities or adapting existing ones, this guide offers essential information to help you meet federal accessibility standards.

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American Trails Accessibility Hub

The American Trails Accessibility Hub is a valuable resource for creating accessible trails, providing guidelines, best practices, and examples to support various disabilities. It includes tools, case studies, and webinars for trail managers and advocates. As an incredible national resource, American Trails is featured in VTGC’s enews with updates on their webinars. Explore their comprehensive National Hub and sign up today.

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Forest Service Outdoor Recreation Accessibility Guidelines

Kootenay Adaptive Mountain Biking Trail Standards

The Kootenay Adaptive Sport Association’s “Adaptive Mountain Biking Trail Standards” provides guidelines for designing and building trails suitable for adaptive mountain biking. These standards ensure trails are accessible and enjoyable for riders with various disabilities, covering aspects like trail width, gradient, surface, and technical features. The guidelines help create inclusive trails that accommodate adaptive mountain bikes and enhance the riding experience for everyone.

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Rails-to-Trails Accessibility Guide

The Rails-to-Trails Accessibility Guide provides practical advice and best practices for designing accessible trails. It covers key aspects such as trail surface materials, gradients, and width, as well as considerations for amenities like signage and rest areas. The guide aims to help trail builders and managers create trails that are inclusive and usable for people with a range of disabilities, ensuring a positive outdoor experience for all users.

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The Vermont Town Forest Trail Design Guide

USFS Technical Requirements for Outdoor Recreation and Trails

This guide by the USDA Forest Service provides technical requirements for making outdoor recreation areas and trails accessible. It covers design specifications for trails, camping areas, picnic areas, and other outdoor facilities, ensuring they are usable by people with disabilities. The guidelines focus on elements like surface materials, slopes, widths, and clearances to create inclusive outdoor environments.

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Birdability Guidelines

Through education, outreach and advocacy, Birdability works to ensure the birding community and the outdoors are welcoming, inclusive, safe and accessible for everybody. They focus on people with mobility challenges, blindness or low vision, chronic illness, intellectual or developmental disabilities, mental illness, and those who are neurodivergent, deaf or hard of hearing or who have other health concerns. In addition to current birders, they strive to introduce birding to people with disabilities and other health concerns who are not yet birders so they too can experience the joys of birding.

They have produced a set of guidelines and site review checklist that they are encouraging people to use when conducting an audit of sites that are promoted for birding, and more.

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Learning & Skill Building Opportunities

Creating accessible and amended trails is a skill that trail managers and builders can develop. We offer workshops and webinars to help you learn and apply these skills.

Trail Symposium: Join us at the Trail Symposium where we’ll be leading two workshops: a hands-on assessment and an “Accessibility 101” overview. Learn what we’re doing, why it matters, and how you can get involved.
Professional Trail Builders Association: Connect with experts who specialize in building accessible trails.
American Trails: Explore the extensive resources available on American Trails, including guidance on everything from paddling access to trail gates. Attend their webinars for valuable insights. Check out their offerings and watch for their events on the VTGC events stream.

Events

Professional Trail Builders

In Vermont, several organizations and private builders specialize in constructing accessible and adaptive trails. These experts can provide valuable assistance for your trail projects, ensuring they meet accessibility standards and offer an inclusive experience.

Here’s a list of builders in Vermont who have the expertise in building accessible and adaptive trails. Be sure to reach out to them and inquire about their skills and experience in creating trails that accommodate a variety of needs.

Professional Trail Builders

Funding Opportunities for Accessibility Trail Projects

Improving existing trails can often be straightforward and cost-effective, requiring minimal expertise and funding. However, larger projects involving significant design changes or extensive adaptations will need more substantial financial resources.

For funding options, below are various funding opportunities. Two popular funding sources in Vermont include the FPR Recreation Trails Program (RTP), which supports a range of trail projects, and the VOREC Community Grant Program program, which provides grants for enhancing outdoor recreation.

The Trail Accessibility Hub partners will continuously monitor and highlight available funding sources to support your trail projects.

Available Grants

We regularly monitor trail-related funding opportunities and do our best to keep this list up to date. However, we recommend that you check the granting organization’s website for details, updates, and deadlines.

Use the filters below to refine your grant search

Found 20 Grant(s)

Athletic Brewing “Two for the Trails”

Registered non-profit organization working in trail construction and maintenance, waterway protection, environmental stewardship and other outdoor conservation to apply for grants ranging from $600-$50,000.

Application due date:
September 13, 2024

Application Period August 17 – September 13, 2024. Grants Awarded November 1, 2024. Checks will be distributed throughout the end of 2024

Building Accessible Trails

Resources for designing, building, and adapting existing trails so that everyone can enjoy Vermont’s natural beauty

Getting Started with the Trail Accessibility Hub

Accessibility Guidelines

Interpreting Guidelines

Learning & Skill Building Opportunities

Events

Professional Trail Builders

Funding Opportunities for Accessibility Trail Projects

Available Grants

Use the filters below to refine your grant search

Grantor

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Project Type(s)

Funding Type(s)

Location(s)

Funding amount(s)

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Are you interested in an assessment or want to learn more about the Trail Accessibility Hub? Fill out the form below!

Accessibility Hub Partners