The Los Gatos Creek Trail sits as a good example of one in my metropolitan area. It runs for over ten miles entirely along a creek. An adequate trail should be contiguous and should not make people leave the path to cross a street, creek or highway. It should have one name and not force people to leave one trail to find another, even if it is nearby.

Apparently, there is not a huge amount of interest in these trails. People must be currently content to, in the most part, exercise indoors. However in the near future, a generation of young adults could easily emerge and unite to demand these trails be built; afterwards, they would be bold enough to use them in large numbers year round (The trails would have to be cleared of snow in higher elevations).

Put these trails in place in all major cities and watch hospital visits and admissions drop dramatically. The billions of dollars spent on the trails would be immediately recouped and surpassed by the surely trillions of dollars saved on health care costs. Vast segments of partially sedentary citizens would be coaxed and enticed outdoors by these meandering avenues of motorless transport.

Construction of the Stevens Creek Trail from Mountain View to Cupertino, CA is coming along very slowly, because of right-of-way issues and the difficulty of building along creeks and highways. For all future trail  projects, abandon these snail-like plans and begin to put these trails on catwalks, where no other route can be found. I understand the opposition from local homeowners and renters would be fierce. They don't want their privacy invaded.

That is why we have leadership in Congress and the oval office. With their awareness of the incredible necessity of these plans, they have the power to bypass this unbeatable oppostion; approve the projects; initiate construction, and finish them in a timely manner. Figure no more than a year for the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and no more than four years for completion.

Homeowners along the trail could easily mitigate its impact on themselves. When a neighbor demolishes his single-story home and builds one with two stories, people next door don't fret. They just grow their hedges and plants higher and more fully. Or they can plant bushes and/or trees.

On a regular basis, almost no one wants to do extensive hiking and biking in town, while dodging traffic left and right. Give the gift of self-propelled adventure and please include the fresh air!