![\"Playbook\"](\"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/greenacres\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/images\/nj-trails-playbook-scaled.jpg\")
[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=””]<\/p>\n[vc_row full_width=”stretch_row_content_no_spaces”][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”5839″ img_size=”2560×750″ alignment=”center” css=””][vc_raw_html css=””]JTNDZGl2JTIwY2xhc3MlM0QlMjJjYXJvdXNlbC1jYXB0aW9uJTIwZC1tZC1ibG9jayUyMGQtc20tYmxvY2slMjIlM0UlMEElMjAlMjAlMjAlMjAlMjAlM0NoMSUzRU5ldyUyMEplcnNleSUyMFN0YXRld2lkZSUyMFRyYWlscyUyMFBsYW5uaW5nJTNDJTJGaDElM0UlM0MlMkZkaXYlM0UlMEE=[\/vc_raw_html][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][breadcrumb-shortcode][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/4″][vc_wp_custommenu nav_menu=”6″ el_class=”mr-4″][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”3\/4″][vc_column_text css=””][\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=””]<\/p>\n
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) and New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) are developing the New Jersey Trails Playbook – a series of statewide trail planning guidance documents, with the goal of ensuring that all residents, no matter where they live or their accessibility needs, have safe and equitable access to quality recreational trails. This initiative expands on NJDEP\u2019s recently published 2023-2027 Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan, entitled Outside, Together!<\/em>\u00a0 The conclusions of this strategic plan were clear \u2013 trails are a priority for New Jerseyans. Outside, Together!<\/em>\u00a0outlined the need to update statewide trail planning documents to enable government, nonprofit, and private land managers to better serve the needs of New Jersey\u2019s trail users and local communities, to improve community connectivity, and to increase outdoor recreation and active transportation opportunities. The benefits of trails and greenways have also been emphasized in recent NJDOT planning and assistance efforts, such as through the publishing of NJDOT\u2019s Planning for Greenways Guidebook\u00a0in 2019.<\/p>\n The Playbook will serve to provide updated trail planning and management guidance that reflects current needs, priorities, and available resources, allowing the state to better meet the increasing and changing outdoor recreation and active transportation needs of the public. The Playbook will provide guidance on identifying and securing trail funding, executing trail projects, ensuring trail user safety, and laying the framework for enhancing New Jersey’s system of trails.<\/p>\n The New Jersey Trails Playbook will provide a framework for advancing New Jersey\u2019s trail networks, positioning the State to take on\u202fmore of a leadership role in coordinating statewide trail development. The series\u202ftakes a holistic, comprehensive approach to trail planning and guidance, allowing New Jersey to provide more equitable access to trails, greenways, shared use paths, and other related infrastructure, protecting and empowering our most vulnerable communities. The ultimate goal of this project is to provide a resilient statewide system of trails that better connects us to our communities, to our businesses, to nature, to healthy lifestyles, and to each other.<\/p>\n Public engagement is an essential component informing New Jersey Trails Playbook. The first survey in a sequence of public outreach efforts to inform statewide trail planning, funding, and policy was the Statewide Trail Needs Assessment for Trail Planners and Managers. This survey was designed for those who develop and manage trails, to help the state better understand and meet the outdoor recreation and active transportation needs of the public. The second survey, the New Jersey Trail User Survey, was intended for all of New Jersey’s residents and trail users. The survey addressed key topics, such as\u00a0trail use, motivations for using or not using trails, and importantly, the impact that trails have on New Jersey\u2019s economy.\u00a0New Jersey Trails Program staff are analyzing the results of both surveys and will be including findings in the guidance documents, as well as releasing a report of survey findings.[\/vc_column_text][vc_separator color=”custom” border_width=”3″ css=”” accent_color=”#346697″][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text css=””]<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=””]New Jersey has several existing guidance documents to reference when planning trails and greenways throughout the state.<\/p>\n In 2023, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection published the 2023 – 2027 Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan, entitled Outside, Together!<\/em>, which provided a strategic vision for outdoor recreation in New Jersey, including key findings and recommendations related to trails.<\/p>\n The 2009 New Jersey Trails Plan was a collaboration between the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and New Jersey Department of Transportation, which provided a vision, goals, and strategic actions to assist in the development and management of trails in the state.<\/p>\n Additionally, New Jersey Department of Transportation’s 2016 New Jersey Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan<\/a>\u00a0provides a vision, goals, and strategies to achieve a safe, accessible active transportation network throughout the state.\u00a0 Their Planning for Greenways: A Guidebook for New Jersey Communities<\/a>\u00a0provides guidance on planning and developing greenways for bicycle and pedestrian uses.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [vc_row full_width=”stretch_row_content_no_spaces”][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”5839″ img_size=”2560×750″ alignment=”center” css=””][vc_raw_html css=””]JTNDZGl2JTIwY2xhc3MlM0QlMjJjYXJvdXNlbC1jYXB0aW9uJTIwZC1tZC1ibG9jayUyMGQtc20tYmxvY2slMjIlM0UlMEElMjAlMjAlMjAlMjAlMjAlM0NoMSUzRU5ldyUyMEplcnNleSUyMFN0YXRld2lkZSUyMFRyYWlscyUyMFBsYW5uaW5nJTNDJTJGaDElM0UlM0MlMkZkaXYlM0UlMEE=[\/vc_raw_html][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][breadcrumb-shortcode][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/4″][vc_wp_custommenu nav_menu=”6″ el_class=”mr-4″][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”3\/4″][vc_column_text css=””][\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=””] New Jersey Trails Playbook The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) and New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) are developing the New Jersey Trails Playbook – a series of statewide trail planning guidance documents, with the goal of ensuring that all […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":152,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"fullwidth.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-519","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/greenacres\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/greenacres\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/greenacres\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/greenacres\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/152"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/greenacres\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=519"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/greenacres\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/519\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6568,"href":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/greenacres\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/519\/revisions\/6568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/greenacres\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Statewide Trail Planning Documents<\/h4>\n
Outside, Together!<\/em><\/a><\/h4>\n
2009 New Jersey Trails Plan<\/a><\/h4>\n