Step aboard PBS’s From Rails to Trails. The documentary premiering October 15 tracks the 60-year struggle of one of America’s most unlikely grassroots movements. Narrator Edward Norton plays conductor for viewers, digging into how former railroad corridors through history were transformed into multi-use public paths and the people who helped make it happen.
The film was born out of Peter Harnik’s book “From Rails to Trails: Making of America’s Active Transportation Network.” Harnik, who co-founded the Rails to Trails Conservatory, also serves as an executive producer on the project alongside director and producer Dan Protess. For Protess, who was passionate about the subject, it was an expansive journey cross-country. He logged some serious miles from Chicago’s Illinois Prairie Path to Seattle’s Burke-Gilman Trail and The High Line in New York City to the Atlanta Beltline and The Washington and Old Dominion Trail in D.C. to The West Rail Trail in Brownsville, Texas.
Some of the most prominent figures sat down for interviews including Pete Buttigieg, Howard Dean, Tommy Thompson and others. In all, the U.S. is home to more than 26,000 miles of well-used rail-trails, but in the eyes of these dedicated advocates and change-makers, there is much more work to be done.
Here Protess takes us through the making of the doc.
PBS
The overarching theme of this documentary really shows what a grassroots effort can do. What drove you to the project?
Dan Protess: Peter was the co-founder of the Rails to Trails Conservatory, which is the largest organization advocating for rail-trails in America. He was on the ground floor of the rails-to-trails movement. He lived the history, but also wrote the history. He wrote this book “From Rails to Trails,” which the documentary is loosely based on. Peter and I had worked together in the past on the history of parks in America about 10 years ago, and he approached me wanting to adapt his book. I wasn’t completely certain yet if it were going to be a good documentary. A couple of things sold me. One was diving into his book. In journalism, writing, and documentary story-telling we’re always looking for battles. And the rails to trails movement is full of battles against private property interests who want to claim these corridors for themselves, and in some instances, against the railroads themselves. It took this amazing grassroots effort to make this happen.
We tend to think of rail-trails or trails as just pleasant places that we’re almost granted by God to us. But we have no idea there had to be people who had to fight really hard for these projects. The other thing that sold me on the idea is I myself am a regular rail-trail user. I live in Chicago in a neighborhood that had zero green space until about 10 years ago. I’m an avid jogger. I also like to cycle. The only place to go jogging was on the streets in some unpleasant traffic filled streets. Then about 10 years ago they built the 606 rail-trail close to my home, and it has transformed my life and improved the quality of life for me and everyone I live around. When I do my deepest thinking is when I’m jogging. I literally had the opportunity to think about rail trails while jogging on a rail trail.
You brought in Edward Norton to narrate. What made him the right person for this?
Peter, the executive producer, refers to Edward Norton as Edward Jr. because the thing you need to know about Edward Norton Jr. is that his father Edward Norton Sr. is an environmental attorney and has been very active in the rails-to-trails movement over the years. So, we got to him through his father. Edward Norton Jr. is himself an environmentalist who saw The High Line getting built right below his apartment in Manhattan and was a backer of that project. He was the natural fit and so generous with his time.
There are so many stories told all over the country. How was it deciding what you wanted to focus on in such a short timeframe? What challenges did you face?
There are 26,000 beautiful miles of rail-trails in America and so many great stories to tell and so many more I’d like to have told. But I focused on the larger points about the movement. We started in Brownsville, Texas, which is not necessarily on everyone’s radar, but I loved my time there. People there were just wonderful. That story was illustrative of how much of a fight it is to get these rail-trails built and the extent the communities need to roll up their sleeves. In that case, it was about stopping this railroad corridor from becoming a freeway or actually a toll road. They fought for it to be a trail instead. It was really picking and choosing. The High Line was a no-brainer because it kicked off this wave of urban rail trails from being built across the country. Atlanta’s Beltline proved some good economic points for building rail trails.
First of all, how you can generate money through the project, which in their case, was through tax increment financing. Also, you see how you make sure the people who live along the trail are not displaced and how the community benefits from a trail when a trail gets built. I’d have to count up different trips across the countries we did. It probably ended up being about 10. Yes, it is a bit of a logistical nightmare getting everyone’s schedules to line up, the interviewees, the locations, lots of permitting involved. Whatever day we filmed in Seattle was the rainiest that Seattle had ever seen. And that’s a city known for rain. We destroyed our audio recorder over the course of following this group of bicyclists across the city on the Burke-Gilman Trail. I will say it was one of those projects that made me love my job. I’m literally going out into nature to go biking. Often times on the less frequented trails we’d spend an hour waiting in one spot waiting for a cyclist to come by. But it was a very pleasant hour standing in a forest.
Former Vermont Governor Howard Dean and Director of Photography Ben Kolak on the Island Line Trail in Burlington, VT. (Oliver Parini)
You also talk to the people in favor of the national association of revisionary property owners. Was it hard to get them involved or did they want their side told?
For me as a journalist and filmmaker, it’s always important for me to look at any subject from every side. The rails-to-trail movement has had its share of naysayers over the years. I wanted to definitely hear from some of those voices. It was interesting when I reached Dick Welsh and the Glosemeyers, the two principal opponents I interviewed, they said it had been a long time since any journalists had contacted them. They usually don’t bother. I think they respected the fact I just picked up the phone and called them.
They respected that I took the time to listen to them and listen to their perspective. In both cases, they were both happy to have me there with a camera. I just think in 2025 when people have so much trouble talking across the political aisle, it’s more important than ever we have these kinds of conversations. Here I am from Chicago and visited these farmers in Missouri and might think we have nothing in common, yet you start talking about family and food and the political conversation disappears in the background and you’re talking to each other like humans.
Former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson interviewed by Director and Producer Dan Protess (Michael del Rosario)
How many years did it take?
It was three years ago Peter and I had our initial conversation. I never believe any of these projects are ever going to come to fruition. Now coming out and airing that I believe it’s happening. It’s public television, so you have to do fundraising in order to raise the funds to make the film. We did a couple of days of exploratory filming. This goes back to the bipartisan issue a few days in Vermont with former Vermont Governor Howard Dean, a democrat and spent a few days in Wisconsin along the Elroy-Sparta Trail with former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson, a republican. They were both great people to get to know and both of them allowed me to interview them while they were bicycling, which was good fun for these aging politicians to get them out on a bicycle. Also, just to see the extent people all agree rail-trails are a good thing for America was enough proof of concept we needed to get us across the finish line from a funding perspective. Last summer, we did the bulk of the filming.
The ultimate goal is to make it so you’re able to go across the country on these trails. What kind of impact will this have on these efforts?
If you go to the website for the Great American Rail-Trail, it will tell you as of whatever date what percent completed it is. You can see the progress they’ve made. I think people like big visions. It’s one thing to say we’re building a rail trail from Chicago to Wisconsin. It’s another vision to have an entire rail trail you can literally cross the entire country on from Washington D.C. to Washington state. Even though it’s not complete, people have made the track.
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I interviewed someone who was a military veteran [Mike Kohler] who was part of a program for veterans to get outdoors and do these several month long activities as a form of therapy. I met him in Chicago. He was camping in a tent somewhere about an hour away from my home as he made his way across the country. I think I was with him when he hit the 1,000-mile mark. People love big plans and it’s a way to get people onboard with the movement. It’s exciting. It’s an ambitious vision, which I think people gravitate toward, which I think is why it’s great for the movement.
This is about rail-trails, but you can apply this type of mindset and philosophy of what advocating can do in general.
I agree. This is why I say this is a very specific movement, but I hope this can offer a blueprint for other movements whatever people might be fighting for. This might provide some inspiration and a bit about how you go about building momentum and support.
From Rails to Trails premiere, October 15, PBS (Check Local Listings)
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