If you don’t care about health, how about real estate?

Collin O’Mara, Secretary of the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control spoke on Thursday at Walkable, Bikeable Delaware in Dover on the economic benefits of trails and pathways.  O’Mara noted that nationally trip related sales on trails are worth over $30 billion dollars annually, while well-designed trails that connect communities, like the Grand Allegheny Passage, have become the lifeblood of local economies.

The Grand Allegheny Passage connects communities in southwest Pennsylvania.

In Delaware, O’Mara noted our one example of a trail that connects two communities: the Junction and Breakwater Trail in Sussex County.  The J&B Trail not only connects Lewes and Rehoboth Beach, and the intervening communities, it also increases the value of real estate along the Trail.