Transportation specialists, urban planners, and public health officials have been steadfast in encouraging active modes of
transportation over the past decades. Conventional thinking, however, suggests that providing infrastructure for cycling and
walking in the form of off-street trails is critically important. An outstanding question in the literature is how one’s travel
is affected by the use of such facilities and specifically, the role of distance to the trail in using such facilities. This
research describes a highly detailed analysis of use along an off-street facility in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. The core
questions addressed in this investigation aim to understand relationships between: (1) the propensity of using the trail based
on distance from the trip origin and destination, and (2) how far out of their way trail users travel for the benefit of using
the trail and explanatory factors for doing so. The data used in the analysis for this research was collected as a human intercept
survey along a section of an off-street facility. The analysis demonstrates that a cogent distance decay pattern exists and
that the decay function varies by trip purpose. Furthermore, we find that bicyclists travel, on average, 67% longer in order
to include the trail facility on their route. The paper concludes by explaining how the distance decay and shortest path versus
taken path analysis can aid in the planning and analysis of new trail systems.
Keywords Non-motorized transportation - Cycling - Infrastructure - Distance decay - Route choice - Sustainability