1B: Canal trails for irrigation and active transportation

Community planners have increasingly been asked to provide additional active transportation options. Siting trails is often very complicated. Irrigation canals offer unique opportunities for connecting communities with walking and bicycling trails. Canal trails encourage physically-active transportation and outdoor recreation and are especially relevant given the 2023 passage of S.B. 185, a transportation amendments bill that established the Active Transportation Investment Fund and authorized a statewide trail network for walking and bicycling between communities.

Some trails are next to an open channel, and others are above an enclosed canal. Covering a canal conserves water by reducing seepage and evaporation. It also improves water quality and lowers maintenance costs. Although enclosure is expensive, several state and federal funding programs are available. Some funding sources prioritize projects with recreational trails.

Trails offer many co-benefits for canal operators. They may help with maintenance (trash and weeds), community policing, and documenting/ preserving the right-of-way. Of course, there are challenges to overcome, including gaining approval from landowners, limiting legal liability, ensuring canal maintenance can occur, designing safe street crossings, and addressing privacy concerns. Luckily, there are many case studies on how canal trails can be successfully built and operated in Utah.

Utah’s nearly two-dozen canal trails come in all shapes and sizes, from the hugely popular Murdock Canal Trail covering 17 miles through Utah County, to the quarter-mile trail along the “Kids Canal” in Vernal.