Excerpts from;

"Community Guide to Planning & Managing a

Scenic Byway"

by U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration
produced by R. D. Mingo and Associates, Washington D C

For copies of the whole book;

Their web site is at http://www.Byways.org

This is a good FREE 80 page book on how to set up and run a travel byway or trail for tourism. It is basically a summary study of hundreds of trail projects, both local, state and federal. The Byways project is a formal project to help with the development of byways all over the country. Texas is the only state that chose not to be a part of the project. The Byways Project has produced a whole library of good reference and study materials that are available free for the asking on every phase of a historical or scenic byway project. Texas CR people would do well to avail themselves of this tremendous resource.

I am posting three key parts from the book that are relevant to where we are on developing the Texas Camino Real. These the first two steps we need to take on a statewide and local basis.

First, the "Map" of the scenic highway process. I have added Texas CR comments in green.

GET STARTED Decide on a statement of purposes Recruit new allies [ recruit stakeholders ]

INVENTORY YOUR BYWAY Do the research Drive, photograph, map, and take notes

MAKE SENSE OF YOUR BYWAY Define and catalog it The following is added for the Texas CR by Edward Moore Define logical regions and sections of the road Find and list all the stakeholders on each section and for each region. Include tourist related business along with CofCs and historical societies Create a vision statement

GET COMMUNITY INPUT AND SUPPORT Invite people [stakeholders] to your meetings Prepare a traveling byway show [I have one for the San Marcos region]

CREATE A CORRIDOR MANAGEMENT PLAN Formulate goals and objectives Get your community's consensus in writing

PUT PLAN INTO ACTION Gather a management team Implement your plan

These are the "SIX INTRINSIC QUALITIES" of a scenic byway.

Scenic: Beauty, whether natural or human-made. The quality of the features are measured by how memorable, distinctive, uninterrupted and unified they are.

Natural: Minimal human disturbance of the natural ecological features that are associated with the region.

Historic: Landscapes, buildings, structures or other visual evidence of the past. It has to be something that can still be seen -- not just the site of something that used to be there.

Cultural: Visual evidence of the unique customs, traditions, folklores or rituals of a currently existing human group.

Archeological: Visual evidence of the unique customs, traditions, folklores or rituals of a non-existing human group.

Recreational: The road corridor itself is used for recreation like jogging, biking, roadside picnics, or direct access to recreational sites like campgrounds, lakes, [rivers], ski lodges etc...

Community Benefits of Scenic Byways [This is for participants in the Scenic Byways program. The Texas CR will not be part of this program and thus will not qualify for some of these benefits]

These are direct benefits from having a scenic or historical byway in your community.

• Increased business, tax revenue and jobs from tourist dollars
• Federal and State funding for planning and following through on a corridor management plan.
• Protection for resources you believe may be threatened.
• Improved maintenance and a higher budget for your road. For example, some states give scenic highways higher priority for shoulder work and road repair than other highways, and the maintenance they get is of a higher grade.
• Access to resources and expert assistance in managing the corridor.
• Identification on state, federal and autoclub highway maps, leading to more tourism opportunities for your area.
• Money and other assistance from state and national offices and economic development and tourism. In particular, the national designation can make your route eligible for federal scenic byway grants, technical assistance from the Federal Highway Administration, and inclusion in the national Scenic Byways promotion plans.

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since 2-1-2005