Rivers to Ridges Heritage Trail

The National Scenic Byways Program defines a “scenic byway” as: …A public road having special scenic, historic, recreational, cultural, archaeological, and/or natural qualities that have been recognized as such through legislation or some other official declaration. The terms “road” and “highway’” are synonymous. They are not meant to define higher or lower functional classifications or wider or narrower cross-sections. Moreover, the term “byway” refers not only to the road or highway itself but also to the corridor through which it passes (FHWA Interim Policy, May 18, 1995). Byways offer driving experiences “off the beaten path” where drivers can explore and experience the scenery, culture, history and special features of an area, that provide opportunities we might otherwise miss. You might think of byways as roads that tell a story—gateways to unique adventures and paths to better understand America’s history and cultures.

What can a Scenic Byway do for us?

An increasing number of studies demonstrate the economic benefits to identifying, protecting, and promoting scenic byways. Here's a sampling:

The Blue Ridge Parkway, Virginia/North Carolina
Visitors spent $1.8 billion in counties adjacent to the Blue Ridge Parkway, according to a 1995-96 study. These expenditures resulted in over $147 million in tax revenues and supported more than 74,614 jobs in the region.

Forty percent of American adults drive for pleasure.
This makes driving the second favorite recreation activity of American adults, second only to walking.

Vermont Scenic Byways

Travelers from out of state who drove Vermont Scenic Byways for the scenic drive or sightseeing spent 25% more per day than those traveling for other reasons.

Colorado Scenic Byways
A survey of tourism-related businesses along two scenic byways in Colorado showed that a majority of business owners estimated a 10% increase in sales due to byway designation.

The National Scenic Byway Program provides direct benefits in four major categories.

Byway Designation Benefits: Promotion
America’s Byways® serves as the umbrella for recognizing and promoting National Scenic Byways and All-American Roads. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) National Scenic Byways Program (NSBP) promotes the collection with publications, on FHWA’s traveler website at www.byways.org, and through public and private cooperative projects. Promoting the America’s Byways brand and logo increases visitor recognition of the program and encourages travelers to include byways in their trip plans.

Byway Designation Benefits: Preservation

Preserving a byway’s intrinsic quality(s) is essential to its integrity and sustainability. A designated byway creates a legacy and offers opportunities to preserve special places. It is those qualities and places that residents love and that draw visitors. In this way, preservation has a strong connection with promotion. A byway might have a building or structure associated with a historic event or unique to a particular group of people and their way of life. It might have a natural resource or scenic vista integral to the byway’s intrinsic quality(s), or it could offer certain outdoor recreation within view of the road. Whatever its unique characteristic, the byway preserves its very essence by preserving the intrinsic quality(s) and working to sustain the resource for generations to come.

Byway Designation Benefits: Partnerships
Even before nomination or designation, citizens and key stakeholders are engaged to create and foster a byway vision. Partnerships, both formal and informal, are needed to begin and sustain a byway. Many partners bring new resources to the table through their knowledge of the area, expertise, personal commitment and access to public or private funding sources. National designation offers the opportunity to expand partnerships well beyond local or State boundaries. The website www.bywaysonline.org offers a Discussion Forum for byway members to ask questions and hold discussions with byway peers from around the country. Together, the America’s Byways Resource Center and FHWA sponsor the biennial National Scenic Byways Conference where the byway community meets to network, build partnerships, learn and share information

Byway Designation Benefits: Pride

Formal byway designation can instill a greater sense of awareness and pride among citizens. Neighbors learn and share with one another. People work with each other to identify the resources that the community believes form the basis of the byway’s story. Byways attract volunteers who may help clear a trail, repair or restore a building, participate in planning, or advance the overall interest of the byway in the community. The byway itself may become the connecting force between communities along a route. Seeking and receiving official designation often heightens local pride; your byway becomes part of an important collection of stories and treasured places. National Scenic Byways and All-American Roads are recognized by the Secretary of Transportation as having outstanding scenic, historic, cultural, natural, recreational and archaeological qualities.

Grants
Additionally, designation as a national Scenic Byway will make us eligible for grant funding for projects in eight different categories.

1. State and Tribal Programs 
2. Corridor Management Plan 
3. Safety Improvements 
4. Byway Facilities
5. Access to Recreation 
6. Resource Protection 
7. Interpretive Information 
8. Marketing Program

What is a Corridor Management Plan?

A corridor management plan is a written document that outlines how a byway organization plans to protect, promote, enhance and manage the byway’s intrinsic qualities. The CMP acts as the guiding document for all efforts of the byway group and serves as a key element in all planning. A CMP is designed to change with the community and respond to new proposals and developments along the byway corridor. A CMP is required for designation as a National Scenic Byway or All-American Road.

A good corridor management plan should:

• Identify and discuss the byways intrinsic qualities
• Review the roadway’s current condition and maintenance plans
• Explore visitor’s needs and expectations
• Discuss how to promote the byway while protecting its outstanding features in the future.
• Include input from community members

A corridor management plan also needs to address 14 points laid out by the FHWA.

• A map identifying the corridor boundaries, location of intrinsic qualities, and land uses in the corridor. U. S. Geological Survey maps of your corridor region are ideal and inexpensive base maps for your corridor management planning group.
• An assessment of the byway's intrinsic qualities and their context (the area surrounding them). The end product is typically a catalogue of the byway's scenic, historic, natural, archeological, cultural, and recreational qualities. A community visual assessment is an ideal way to involve a large number of local residents in evaluating the byway's resources.
• A strategy for maintaining and enhancing each of the byway's intrinsic qualities. Ask what you want the byway corridor to look like in 10-15 years and develop goals and strategies to help you get there.
• A list of the agencies, groups, and individuals who are part of the team that will carry out the plan. Be sure to include a description of each individual's responsibilities and a schedule of when and how you will review their progress.
• A strategy for how existing development along the corridor might be enhanced and how to accommodate new development while preserving the byway's intrinsic qualities. Many communities have long-term land use plans that can be adapted for this purpose.
• A plan for on-going public participation. This might include forming a CMP steering committee made up of local citizens, a schedule of regular public meetings, or a byway management planning forum.
• A general review of the road's safety record to locate hazards and poor design, and identify possible corrections. Identify ways to balance safety with context-sensitive highway design practices that accommodate safety needs while preserving the road's character.
• A plan to accommodate commercial traffic while ensuring the safety of sightseers in smaller vehicles, as well as bicyclists, joggers, and pedestrians. Some CMP's incorporate plans to apply for Federal Transportation Enhancement funds to pay for the installation of special bicycle lanes along the byway or the creation of hiking trails.
• A listing and discussion of efforts to minimize anomalous intrusions on the visitor's experience of the byway. This might include landscaping to screen an industrial site, relocating utility wires and poles, or planning for the sensitive location of wireless telecommunications towers along the byway.
• Documentation of compliance with all existing local, state, and federal laws about the control of outdoor advertising. Federal regulations prohibit all new billboards along designated scenic byways that are classified as federal-aid primary, national highway system, or interstate roads. States are free to impose stricter controls on billboards along scenic byways. Your CMP should also address the continuous designation of the road to ensure that billboard companies will not be able to find a loophole in your byway designation that would allow them to erect billboards along the corridor.
• A plan to make sure that the number and placement of highway signs will not get in the way of scenery, but still be sufficient to help tourists find their way. This includes, where appropriate, signs for international tourists who may not speak English fluently. Two popular and effective ways of addressing this issue are logo signs and tourist-oriented directional signs (TODS). Logo signs are located on interstate highway rights-of-way and advertise gas, food, camping, and lodging at nearby exits. Highway-oriented businesses can advertise their company's symbol, name, trademark, or a combination of these things on a logo sign. A few states, like Utah and Maine, provide TODS primarily on non-interstate rural highways to help motorists find local businesses. TODS indicate only the name of local attractions, mileage to the establishment, and direction.
• Plans for how to market and publicize the byway. Most marketing plans highlight the area's intrinsic qualities and promote interest in the byway that is consistent with resource protection efforts and maintenance of the byway's desired character.
• Any proposals for modifying the roadway, including an evaluation of design standards and how proposed changes may affect the byway's intrinsic qualities. Byway groups should work with their state department of transportation to adopt context-sensitive highway design standards for the byway. Context-sensitive design takes into account the area's built and natural environment; the environmental, scenic, aesthetic, historic, community, and preservation impacts of a road project; and provides access for other modes of transportation.
• A description of what you plan to do to explain and interpret your byway's significant resources to visitors. Interpretation can include visitor centers, leaflets, audio tours, information panels, and special events. In this category, creativity makes a big difference.

Kanawha Gateway Heritage Area | kanawhagateway@gmail.com | 304-937-3088 | P.O. Box 256 Buffalo, WV 25033