Characteristics
Greenways are vegetated, linear, and multi-purpose. They incorporate a footpath or bikeway within a linear park. In urban design they are a component of planning for bicycle commuting and walkability.
The land may be newly developed, but usually it is a redevelopment of an abandoned railroad, towpath or unused highway. Greenways may also be colocated within the right-of-way property belonging to still operating railroads; or existing utility lines. Riparian zones are also used as a location for greenways where they provide lineal corridors of regional significance, which because of flooding hazards have been retained as open space.
Greenways are found in rural areas as well as urban. Corridors redeveloped as greenways often travel through both city and country, connecting them together. Even in rural areas greenways serve the purpose of providing residents access to open land managed as parks, as contrasted with land that is vegetated but inappropriate for public use, such as agricultural land. Where the historic rural road network has been enlarged and redesigned to favor highspeed automobile travel, greenways provide an alternative for people who are elderly, young, less mobile, or seeking a reflective pace.
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