{"id":249187,"date":"2026-08-13T07:30:41","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T11:30:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=249187"},"modified":"2026-08-11T14:37:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T18:37:48","slug":"tracking-statewide-trail-use-with-the-ct-trail-census","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2026\/08\/tracking-statewide-trail-use-with-the-ct-trail-census\/","title":{"rendered":"Tracking Statewide Trail Use with the CT Trail Census"},"content":{"rendered":"

With over 2,700 miles of trails available across Connecticut, we are spoiled for choice when it comes to places we can exercise, explore nature, commute sustainably, or tackle a challenge and earn a badge<\/a>. Trails bring many opportunities and benefits for communities, and information about how people use these trails can help planners and trail managers direct funds toward trail development or maintenance, but first data need to be collected. What started as a project to fill those knowledge gaps for a project on the Naugatuck River Greenway has grown into the CT Trail Census<\/a>, one of the most comprehensive statewide trail census programs in the country.<\/p>\n

The project started when Aaron Budris, Environmental Planning Director for the Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments<\/a> (NVCOG), started to work with UConn Extension and UConn Connecticut Center for Economic Analysis 10 years ago on an economic impact study for the Naugatuck River Greenway Trail, a partially completed paved multi-use trail following the Naugatuck River. NVCOG was interested in understanding the multi-use trail as an economic driver for the communities along the trail, but soon realized the data they needed to conduct an economic impact analysis did not exist.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had some general nationwide information, or trail information from other states, but nobody had really looked at how trails were being used in Connecticut,\u201d says Budris.<\/p>\n

The project team needed to collect their own local trail use data, and the first step was to establish a methodology using infrared pedestrian counters on trails, Budris explains. This way they could count how many people pass in front of the counter on the trail, and then using in-person intercept surveys, they could gain insight into how people are using the trails and how much money they spent while visiting the area. While vetting their methodology with trail experts and stakeholders, the project team repeatedly heard of a statewide need for reliable trail use data. They decided to try to change that with a statewide data collection pilot. NVCOG partnered with UConn on an application to the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) Recreational Trails Grant Program, and they were awarded funding in 2016 to purchase 10 trail counters to get started.<\/p>\n

Budris says that as they reported the findings, more people became interested in what they were doing. With funding from subsequent DEEP Rec Trails awards, NVCOG purchased more counters and the program picked up steam, eventually outgrowing the capacity to be staffed and administered solely by NVCOG. The program became a partnership with UConn and grew as part of the CT Trails Program.<\/p>\n

The trail counters are infrared sensors that measure differential temperatures, says Budris<\/a>. The sensors collect data 24 hours a day, and they are visited four times per year both to check on condition and to manually download the count data. To visit the current counters, it takes three team members, including Budris and Trails Program coordinator Laura Kelly<\/a>, \u00a0about three full days to visit all locations, which includes hundreds of miles of travel around the state.<\/p>\n

Because the sensors can over- or underestimate counts, they require several hours of manual counts for verification, so that the researchers can compare the actual counts with what is counted by the sensor for each specific hour. Kelly says that under ideal circumstances, manual counts are done 10 times per year for at least a total of 10 hours at each count location. Then the team calculates a correction factor that is used to adjust the data at the end of the year before they publish the annual Count Data Report<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reports are a really good tool for local officials to understand how their trails are being used,” says Budris. “We want to provide the information that communities need if they’re looking for grant applications or funding for maintenance, or if they want to know what time they should send their maintainers out there. They can get that information from our data.”<\/p>\n

A significant part of the project\u2019s outreach includes the interactive Trail Census Dashboard<\/a>, built by the Center for Land Use Education and Research (CLEAR) assistant Extension educator Qian (Rachel) Lei-Parent<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is where most of our users, whether they’re managers or other people, get access to the count results,\u201d says CLEAR geospatial educator and CT Trails Program co-lead Emily Wilson<\/a>. \u201cYou can select certain trails or do comparisons to track trends over time; there are a lot of ways to do a deep dive into the counts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since the CT Trails Program has been collecting data, they have recorded how trail use has increased over the years. The sensors were out prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the team says they saw use spike in 2020 before a relative post-pandemic decline. Ongoing counting, however, indicates that trails remain popular recreational destinations, with current use levels remaining above pre-pandemic levels, says Wilson.<\/p>\n

Weather is the biggest factor affecting trail use. The busiest days of each year tend to be days that bring the first glimpse of springtime in March or early April; however, the data show that many people remain out on the trails even in the middle of winter. These sometimes surprising insights are instrumental for planning efforts, such as one focused on installing lighting in a dark tunnel on the Hop River Trail in Bolton.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe folks that put together that grant application for tunnel lighting cited our data as the reason they were successful in their efforts,\u201d says Budris. \u201cIt’s a dark tunnel and if you can say there’s this many people using it, you can argue it’s a good investment to make it safer for those people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilson says the counters have helped identify trails used by commuters based on spikes in use during certain times of day on weekdays versus weekends. They also see increased use of trails around UConn Storrs during semesters. Since many trails are posted for use from dawn till dusk, these results present an opportunity for the data to show that municipalities might rethink the hours of operation.<\/p>\n

\u201cEspecially on commuter trails in the winter, you’re going to be using the trail probably before dawn or after dusk,\u201d says Budris. \u201cThis could be eye-opening to municipal officials, and it’s information for communities … People are going to be using the trail, one way or the other, so you might as well make it safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

The information is also vital for planning snow removal and maintenance, says Department of Natural Resources and the Environment associate professor and CT Trails Program co-lead, Anita Morzillo<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are a huge expense, but knowing that these are year-round paths that people are using shows that maintenance, including the snow removal, is something that allows for the continuous use,” Morzillo says.<\/p>\n

This is reflected in the data, which shows that snow removal results in immediate rebounds in trail use. For people who rely on these trails for transportation, maintenance and snow removal are crucial.<\/p>\n

With an extensive baseline set of data, the team can now deploy short-term counters to estimate use patterns to assist towns, trail organizations, and others.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s on a case-by-case basis. We see what their needs are, what they need the data for, and normally we can offer to put a counter out for a month or two, and then we can take that data, and give them annual estimates based on the counts from a nearby counter because we know patterns of use are similar on similar trails,\u201d says Budris.<\/p>\n

This strategy has helped the program grow by partnering with more communities and partners around the state.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the last report, I think we now have 28 permanent counters and five short term counters,\u201d says Kelly. \u201cWe have a lot of enthusiastic volunteers this year who help us with most of the manual counts. We could not count as widespread or estimate as accurately without all of the volunteers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morzillo says they hope to return to collecting more data about the people using the trails via intercept surveys and crowdsource data collection: \u201cHaving that context is important for understanding long term trends and details about people\u2019s choices.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though a small group runs the “mission control,” the program has included over 140 partners, says Morzillo, demonstrating the participatory nature of the work.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are about two dozen coordinators for the counters. People of all ages are participating in the manual counts, sometimes UConn students, grad students, undergrads, Scout troops,\u201d says Kelly.<\/p>\n

Wilson adds, \u201cThis is a huge team effort. We get comments from across the country that this is a leading-edge program compared to other places, including a lot of compliments about the length of time and the comprehensive nature of it. I think it’s something to be proud of.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Partners in the CT Trail Census Data Dashboard include Farmington Valley Trails Council, Naugatuck Valley COG, Capital Region COG, and New Milford River Trail Association<\/em>.\u00a0<\/strong>The CT Trails Program is made possible through a partnership with CT Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, the UConn Center for Land Use Education and Research, the Naugatuck Valley Council of Government NVCOG, UConn College of Agriculture, Health, and Natural Resources, UConn Extension, and the CT Greenways Council. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A leading-edge program gains insights into use on some of CT\u2019s most impressive assets<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":118,"featured_media":249340,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2224,1715,2304,2460,2300,2235,2227],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2093],"class_list":["post-249187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cahnr","category-community-impact","category-extension","category-faculty","category-natural-resources-environment","category-today-homepage","category-uconn-edu-homepage"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-20 10:21:34","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/118"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249187"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249187\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":251409,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249187\/revisions\/251409"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/249340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249187"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=249187"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=249187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}