Survey aims to guide trail improvements

A regional agency is asking the public to share its input in a survey that could lead to improvements for Whitman County’s trails and sidewalks.

The Palouse Regional Transportation Planning Organization put together the survey as part of its Palouse Active Transportation Plan. The survey can be found at palousetrails.palousertpo.org/survey.htm.

The RTPO has developed an inventory of more than 100 trails and sidewalks in its four-county region, including Whitman County.

On the survey website, the public can look at an interactive map of this inventory and leave their comments regarding those trails, sidewalks and waterway trails. If the user knows of a trail or sidewalk that is not shown, they can draw it on the map and report information about it.

RTPO Director Shaun Darveshi said the comments can be about anything related to the trails and sidewalks. For example, he said the public can comment on the condition of the trail, whether there is enough lighting or if it is unsafe.

He said the Pullman Police Department is on the RTPO’s steering committee, so they may be able to address safety concerns.

Marie Dymkoski, who serves on the RTPO Citizen Advisory Committee, said there are trails that are usable but do not have a name and are not maintained. She said there might be opportunities to enhance those trails if RTPO is made aware of them.

In addition to the interactive maps, there is also a questionnaire of 21 questions asking the user which trails they frequent the most, what maintenance concerns they have and what affects their decision to use a trail.

The deadline for the survey was scheduled to be Nov. 30, but Darveshi said Thursday afternoon it may be extended.

Darveshi said RTPO is hoping about 1 percent of the four-county region, or 400-500 people, will respond to the survey. Asotin, Columbia and Garfield counties are the other counties in the region.

RTPO plans to use information from this survey as a guide to leverage future funding and policy decisions to improve city and county trails, sidewalks and waterways.

RTPO is funded by Washington state and federal dollars, and works with the Washington State Department of Transportation on projects.

Darveshi said in particular, it plans to analyze the information on the 25 most popular trails and figure out how to invest and prioritize its dollars based on those.

According to the RTPO, there will be more public outreach in the future with a presentation of the data and an opportunity for more public feedback.

Anthony Kuipers can be reached at akuipers@dnews.com.