Linda S. Rowley, a grassroots activist in Haydenville, Massachusetts, has spent decades fighting eminent domain and the misuse of federal transportation funds to pay for recreational bike paths on old railroad rights-of-way, instead of the intended transportation purpose, by commuters using bicycles instead of automobiles. She has worked to counteract the influence of the MassBike Coalition and the Rails to Trails Conservancy to create bike path funding in TEA-21 (the federal Transportation Enhancement Act). Her organization, Railroad Impact Committee of the Hilltowns (RICH), successfully sued to establish the ownership by the underlying property owners of the land along an abandoned railroad right-of-way.
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