24-Move to approve a resolution authorizing a (TIGER) grant program

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The entire railroad corridor is contiguously rail banked by 6 agencies (Chaparral Rails to Trails, Greater Paris Development Foundation, Cities of Clarksville, Annona, and Avery, and Bowie County). This Trail project fulfills the encouragement and protection of the National Trails Systems Act, State and Metropolitan Area Trails Sec. 8. (16USC1247) Paragraph (d): "The Secretary of Transportation, the Chairman of the Interstate Commerce Commission, and the Secretary of the Interior, in administering the Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act of 1976, shall encourage State and local agencies and private interests to establish appropriate trails using the provisions of such programs. Consistent with the purposes of that Act, and in furtherance of the national policy to preserve established railroad rights- of-way for future reactivation of rail service, to protect rail transportation corridors, and to encourage energy efficient transportation use, in the case of interim use of any established railroad rights-of-way pursuant to donation, transfer, lease, sale, or otherwise in a manner consistent with the National Trails System Act, if such interim use is subject to restoration or reconstruction for railroad purposes, such interim use shall not be treated, for purposes of any law or rule of law, as an abandonment of the use of such rights-of-way for railroad purposes. " The above section (d) is the rail-banking agreement authorization. The "to encourage energy efficient transportation use" defines the corridors for non- motorized transportation only usage. Therefore, these 6 rail-banking entities have the charge and authority to convert this property into a multi non- motorized use public trail. The corridor is "shovel ready" to begin Trail construction. The grant application will contain the needed Trail construction approvals from the rail-banked agencies. Once the project grant is approved, the construction of the trail can begin. These corridor right of ways vary in width from 100' in the countryside to 300' inside some town limits. This is ample space to construct adjacent walking, bicycle, and horseback riding paths. These are abandoned railway corridors. The railroad tracks and ties have been removed. Most of the ballast has also been removed. Therefore, the corridor is ready and waiting to be graded to remove encroaching vegetation and debris accumulated from disuse, to fill and level eroded corridor areas, refurbish railroad bridges where needed, and surface the countryside trail way with crushed granite. Asphalt and concrete will be used for trail surfacing inside the intersecting rural towns limits. Traffic calming will be installed where necessary. Safety bollards and signage will be installed where appropriate to deter motorized vehicles on the Trail. Trail usage rules will be posted. Economic Competitiveness The regional economic impact created by the IVortheast Texas Rail-Trail project will be immense. Trail systems have become the central focus of tourist activities and the impetus for kick-starting a stagnating economic area. Within a 60-mile radius of the three main trailhead towns (Farmersville, Paris, and Texarkana) over 10 million people are within driving distance to enjoy this amenity. The population in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex is predicted to be 18 million by the year 2020, the 3 „ -156