Multi-Use Trail Usage By County In The Miami Valley

Trail Usage Statistics

Purpose of this webpage: On this page will be shown the usage of our trails by county by year by trail. This webpage is the beginning of an effort by Miami Valley Trails, to capture the Economic Impact of multi-use trails on our community's.

Trail Use Statistics

Economic Impact

In 1997 the Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana Council of Governments (OKI) instituted a study to estimate: 1. The number of users on the Little Miami Scenic Trail (between Corwin and Loveland) and 2. Determine the economic impact of those users. The study titled "Little Miami Scenic Trail (Trail Users Study) (Adobe Acrobat file 1.2Mb) was released in 1999. It showed that approximately 150K to 175K people used the trail in 1997 and they spent about $2.0 - 2.4 million dollars. If you read the study you will find that the raw counter data was inflated by the one day "Calibration Count" performed by volunteers by as much as 8.7 times. Then it was factored downward to reflect trail visitors during a day. They said in their study:

"These factors provide only an estimate of total trail occupancy during any given hour. They must be factored down by the average duration of visit to produce an estimate of actual number of trail visitors during an entire day or any other period of time. The average duration of visit will be derived from the Follow-Up Surveys from trail users." (Page 11 LMST Study 1999)

Miami Valley Trails is encouraging all of county's in the Miami Valley to purchase and install infrared counters to record the raw data needed for studies of trail use. We are also encouraging them to replicate the 1999 OKI Study to determine the usage of our trail system and the economic impact of those trails on our community.
Available Data On this page we will provide the data available by county, by trail and by year to show you the growth in use. This page is a work in process. It does meet the Webmaster's needs and may not meet my reader's needs at this time. It will be improved. We hope to be able to post statistically valid studies of
Note: National Trail Parks and Recreation (Clark County) and the Transportation Coordinating Committee the Metropolitan Planning Organization for Clark County (they fund trail projects as well as much more) may be the first county in the Miami Valley to replicate the 1999 OKI study. Any study will not start until at least 2007.

Trail Usage Data By County
Clark	Greene	Montgomery	Miami
Warren

Clark County Trail Use Data

Trail Name	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	Total	Ave. Yearly
Little Miami Scenic Trail	42,909	58,170	27,370	24,157	24,361	25,396	202,365	33,726
Prairie Grass Trail	584	21,143	15,523	13,381	10,298	13,541	74,470	12,411
Buck Creek Scenic Trail	2,297	101,832	42,352	11,049	45,905	30,984*	234,419	39,070
Simon Kenton Trail	0	21,333	61,497	15.484	21,152	13,635**	133,101	22,835

Note: Trail use statistics are raw data from infrared counters. Data errors can include but are not limited to: theft or broken counter, counter recording erroneous data, counter moved from old location, etc. For example the apparent drop in usage of the Buck Creek Trail (2004 to 2005) was caused by vandalism of the counter so that data was not recorded.

Notes (2007) - (*) 2007 Buck Creek Scenic Trail had two bridge projects that interrupted trail use in 2007.
(**) 2007 Simon Kenton Trail had one construction project that interrupted trail use in 2007.

Greene County Trail Use Data

Trail	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	TOTAL	Ave. Yearly
KAT	10,000	10,000	10,000	20,500	20,500	20,500	50,500
LMST *	221,944	258,960	267,578	249,296	225,648	264,296	181,466
CST	0	0	80,000	80,000	81,837	82,227	75,396
JC	0	0	8,000	8,000	8,000	8,000	8,000
OET	0	0	0	10,000	12,264	23,355	7,110

Trail	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
KAT	20,500	20,500	20,500	20,500	data not yet received			294,000	13,364
LMST	167,468	175,545	155,403	115,159				2,282,761	207,524
CST	71,574	73,869	65,769	80,622				691,294	76,810
JC	8,000	8,000	11,400	11,400				78,800	8,756
OET	6,690	10,686	11,310	17,052				98,476	12,308

Notes:
   KAT   -   Kaufmann Avenue Trail - Actual Name is: Wright Brothers Bikeway
* LMST - Little Miami Scenic Trail in Greene County
   CST -   Creekside Trail
   OET -    Ohio to Erie Trail in Greene County (AKA Prairie Grass Trail in Clark County portion)
   JC    -    Xenia Jamestown Connector

*There were no counters on Creekside Trail nor the Ohio to Erie Trail from 1996-1999.

*Counters Were installed on LMST in 1996.

*Counters were installed on Creekside Trail and The Ohio to Erie Trail in 2000.

*Red indicates numbers derived from counters.

*The numbers for Jamestown Connector and Wright Brothers Bikeway are estimated.

*Starting in 2002 the counters on the Little Miami Scenic Trail were moved out of Xenia and Yellow Springs.

*The numbers for Creekside Trail and the Ohio to Erie Trail are tripled. (Only one counter in area)

Montgomery County Trail Use Data

Trail Name	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	Total	Ave. Yearly
Great Miami River Recreation Trail (Northern Segment)	78,743	no data available	148,719	153,999	45,262	no data available	189,900	314,795	931,418	155,236

Notes: This is the trail that runs South from the Northern boundary of Taylorsville MetroPark through the park and then South along Wagoner Ford Road. Five Rivers MetroParks has no counters installed on any other trail. Plans are underway to purchase and install counters on the other Five River MetroParks trails.

Miami County Trail Use Data

Note: Miami County has trails in Piqua, Troy, Tipp City and two connecting sections built as of 2006. Miami County has no counters at this time on any trail but is planning to purchase and install counters on their trails.

Warren County Trail User Data

Note: At the time of this writing, Miami Valley Trails has no data from Warren County. Miami Valley Trails is encouraging Warren County and the Little Miami Scenic Park to purchase and install counters on the trails in Warren County.

In 1997 OKI collected data on the Little Miami Scenic Trail in Warren County from Loveland North to Corwin. They published the study "Little Miami Scenic Trail (Trail Users Study) (Adobe Acrobat file 1.2Mb) in 1999. It showed that approximately 150K to 175K people used the trail in 1997 and they spent about $2.0 - 2.4 million dollars. The Little Miami Scenic Park (ODNR) has estimated that for 2005 the trail usage was about 550,000 visits. Please be advised that the source of this estimate is unknown

Economic Impact of Trail Use

The economic impact of trail use is not easy to find. The OKI Study mentioned above estimated that in September 1997, the date the data collection was accomplished, those surveyed mailed back questionnaires. The result was for each use of the trail $13.54 was spent. 30% of that expense was auto expenses getting to and from the trail. Using the Bureau of Labor Statistics Calculator for CPI (Consumer Price Index) that amount is equal to $17.12 in 2006 dollars. So using a very doubtful assumption of no additional usage of the trail from 1997 to 2006, the amount of money spent increases from between $2.37 Million to $2.99 Million.

Year	Number of Riders	Dollars Spent Per Ride	Total $ Spent
1997	150,000	$13.54	$2.03 Million
2006	150,000	$17.12	$2.57 Million
1997	175,000	$13.54	$2.37 Million
2006	175,000	$17.12	$2.99 Million

This does not include any lodging costs. In the 1997 study there was not enough data reported to use.

Hotel Room Nights - I have had reported to me data from one hotel near a trail in Miami Valley. Their experience with lodgers who are staying at their hotel primarily to ride (or use) the trails is as follows below. As you can see this is a very small data point; only one hotel with data for four years. Miami Valley Trails will be working with Convention and Visitor's Bureaus in the Miami Valley to find some easy way to collect data from out-of-town guests to stay at a hotel, motel, B&B or campground simply to use our trails .

Year	Number of Room Nights	Dollars Spent
2003	17	$1,712
2004	28	$2,844
2005*	33	$3,349 *
2006	41	$3,851
2007*	48	$5,162

*Data for 2005 & 2007 is probably 25% low. Data not collected consistently

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