St. George thought its paved trails were popular. Now, it has data to back it up.
Using a dozen electronic counting sensors spread across different routes, the city recorded more than 1.1 million uses in 2024. In a county of just over 200,000 people, that’s an eye-opening number.
“It surprised us, actually,” said Paul Stead, a landscape architect with St. George who works on expanding trails.
“It's really exciting to see everybody using the trails, using the parks, and we're just doing our best to keep up with the growth.”
The population of Washington County has quadrupled since 1990 and it is projected to double by 2050. St. George is growing right along with it.
For the city, the trail traffic numbers aren't just good to know. The data can help identify how to use its existing trail money and obtain funding for more, said St. George Active Transportation Coordinator Lloyd Sutton.
“The data helps us prove that, yes, people are using the trails and there is an appetite for trails. So it helps us understand that, without having to make it an anecdotal story or guesswork.”
It also shows which trails people use the most. Sections of the Virgin River Trail — the city’s longest and most connected trail — claim the top four spots.
That information will help the city prioritize where to put its money next, he said, either connecting lesser-used sections of trail to the main stem in hopes they’ll start being used more or focusing on the areas already seeing the most traffic.
“The goal is to get everything to connect, and it takes years and years to be able to make some of those connections,” Sutton said.
The data also offers clues on when people use the trails. The busiest time is between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. and the peak days are Saturday and Monday. While traffic remained fairly consistent throughout the year, the most popular months were April, May and October. Trail traffic was evenly split between bikes and pedestrians.
Residents have used their ballots to continue building the trail system as the city grows. In 2023, voters approved $29 million to continue funding trails and other parks and rec projects with the GO Bond.
Money from the bond is already fueling construction on projects to connect more trails to the system’s hub along the Virgin River. One path will soon connect to the St. George Regional Hospital, Stead said, and someday to the campus of Utah Tech University. Others will loop in the neighboring city of Santa Clara and fill in gaps in the Virgin River South trail.
That’s music to the ears of local biking advocates like John Reed.
“We're happy for the momentum,” said the advisory council member with Southern Utah Bicycle Alliance. “Everybody's wanting to build as many pathways as they can.”
He’s advocated for bike paths in St. George for more than two decades. In that time, he’s seen local leaders increasingly view the trails as a worthwhile investment.
“They see how it matters to people. They see how it improves the quality of living within their city.”
St. George has no trouble attracting people, he said, but building more bike infrastructure can bring extra economic benefits. He hopes southwest Utah communities continue the momentum with future projects, such as a planned route to eventually connect the St. George area with Zion National Park.
“It attracts a whole segment of people that are looking for that sort of infrastructure. They want that kind of city,” he said. “They don't want a city where you have to get in your car.”
Getting bikers and walkers away from the city’s increasingly congested roads could help improve pedestrian safety as the area continues to grow, too.
The trail system started out to serve recreation, Sutton said, but now the goal is to tie everything together so people can use it as a legitimate transportation system for getting to school, work or shopping. The data already shows some signs of people doing that, with traffic peaks near schools and offices during typical commute times.
The city plans to continue gathering data to compare its 2024 numbers with future years, too. The counters were paid for by a five-year grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Carbon Reduction Program, an effort to use Infrastructure and Jobs Act money to reduce emissions. As the Trump administration threatens to freeze federal dollars associated with climate change, though, it’s unclear whether the city will get to use all five years of the grant.
“With all federal funds, there's kind of a question mark” at the moment, Sutton said. The hope is that the city can continue to pay for trails with that money, “but if there's not that program, we'll find another one. We'll find another way.”
