Trails are used for a variety of reasons.

• Recreation
• Exercise
• Commuting
• Transportation

With the advent of ebikes, the number of people riding bikes on the trails has increased. The city of Omaha Planning Department, along with Council Bluffs, the PAPIO NRD, and MAPA, sponsor these studies. Click on the study image to download a copy.

There are six permanent counters and multiple temporary counters that are used.

I also found this website which shows the counter locations and data gathered at each location. When you open the map you can click on the counter location to bring up the data captured.

Click on the image and then the “Automated Bicycle Counter” item in the left column to see Omaha counters, if you do not see the Omaha area map when you first click on the link or image.

It is intersting to review the permanent counters, as you can see the breakdowns by use, and if you take the first letter of each use type, you can see the data below supplemented with a 2-digit year. You can see trends. One trend that I noticed was the increase in count during 2020, or COVID.

The permanent counters should be capturing data. I did a search on City of Omaha Automated Pedestrian and Bicycle Counter Program Report, which linked to this site, which is where I found the map. but no current reports after 2021. There is some info after 2021 in the permanent counter data.

The study does show a breakdown for pedestrian and bicycle use. Unfortunate that there isn’t an easy way to determine beginner, novice, and well experienced users by type, or if they are traveling through the srea.

Since the Great American Rail Trail and the American Discovery Trail passes through Omaha, there can certainly be trail users that are passing through the metro area, and it would be nice to know the number.

Two examples

In 2020, I met Morten Innes and Dorthe Vandt from Denmark that were riding across the United States and stopped in Omaha for bike service and a rest stop. You can read about their 2020 trip in their blog BikepackingUSA365

More recently in 2023, Briana Desanctis walked the entire 6,800 miles of the American Discovery Trail. I crossed paths with her on the MOPAC trail. You can red about her adventure on her Facebook Page Rocky Mountain High along the American Discovery Trail

Trails have another contribution and that is how much money they add to the gross domestic product of the cities and states they are in. The Iowa Bike Coalition released a study in January 2025, that showed in 2024, the trails in Iowa contributed $1.4 billion to the Iowa’s economy. The two examples above, stopped in the area and spent some money. Multiply that by hundreds or thousands and there is another reason to make our trails more user-friendly; Way-Finding signage goes along way for user-friendly.

Let’s promote trails as economic Development Engines and get them built and properly signed.

I do hope a new study is conducted and another report made to see how much the trail use has increased. It may provide insights to advocate for more trail signage.