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INTRODUCITON <br />I fast became aware of the potential opposition to trail systems while I was a member of <br />an ad hoc citizens group formed to improve safety along one of the main arterial <br />highways going through Prior Lake. At that time the committee recommended lowering <br />the speed limit from fifty five to forty five, reducing the number of intersections and <br />adding trails along the highway to keep bikers, joggers, and pedestrians out of the traffic <br />areas. Several people expressed opposition to the trails because of the potential problems <br />~. <br />resulting from people being able to easily travel from one neighborhood to another. <br />Other concerns were for the potential litter, noise and lack of privacy for those homes <br />that would be adjacent to the trail. That was five years ago. <br />Three years ago, the city formed a Parks Advisory Committee and one of many areas to <br />be explored was community trails. I volunteered to be on the committee and was <br />Chairman for the first year, during which we did the obligatory community survey to <br />determine what future park improvements the citizens of Prior Lake wanted. We did a <br />mail survey of all Prior Lake addresses and received a very high, thirty-two per cent, <br />response rate and of those responding, seventy~ight per cent, expressed strong interest in <br />some type of trail system. <br />We spent the next year planning a community wide trail system and last summer the first <br />phase was formally approved and funded. There were several meetings with residents <br />living along the trail corridor and the same concerns, as were mentioned earlier; were <br />raised along with a few new ones. We could not respond very well to the citizen concerns <br />and decided to do some additional research to determine what impact trail systems might <br />have on the community. <br />V <br />Methodology <br />The methodology selected was a combination of exploratory and descriptive research. <br />The descriptive part of the survey was designed to help us explain to the community the <br />state of trail development and usage in our five state area and also, later, help us to <br />3 <br />