Case Studies
Explore our case studies
Streams and the D&L Trail
The D&L Trail has a historic connection to the Lehigh and Delaware Rivers as the source of water for the canals. But how much of the trail is within a certain distance of a waterbody? It actually turns out to be a lot. We used the National Hydrologic Dataset to compare where streams matched up to our D&L Trail data.
Combining Internal and External Data
We conducted a series of analysis combining D&L data on the county level with socio-demographic and health data. We made these into a series of factsheets:
Parks connected to the D&L Trail
We view the D&L Trail as a continuous greenway that is a linear park that connects many individual parks. But how many parks are there? We used state level park data and looked at all parks within 200 feet that are directly accessible by the D&L Trail. We found that the D&L Trail connects over 50 parks and is a large regional greenway.
Trail user surveys
An important data source is surveying trail users to learn their perceptions and ideas. Combining this data with trail counts or economic data can really expand insights into the people using trails. In 2018 we partnered with Lafayette College and conducted a trail user survey at five locations along the D&L Trail. We found many important insights that are directing our work for the future. Read the report here.
