National Scenic Byways Program and
America’s Byways Resource Center: 10-Year Report
This December 2009 report represents the byway-specific knowledge base and resources created over the previous decade to fortify the success and sustainability of designated byways. It covers work implemented by the America’s Byways Resource Center in support of the National Scenic Byways Program.
For ease of viewing this 10-year compilation, descriptions of the work follow the Introduction in four categories: Research, Training, Tools, and Evaluation. Links to digital resources are provided when available.
For additional information, please contact the FHWA-National Scenic Byways Program or America’s Byways Resource Center.
Tools
America’s Byways Resource Center and FHWA-National Scenic Byways Program have sought to develop and implement learning opportunities that support an essential knowledge base among byway community members for planning and managing their respective byway corridor’s intrinsic qualities. This work is accomplished through content provided on www.bywaysresourcecenter.org, on-demand learning via webcasts and podcasts, print-and-go materials, and other publications.
Vistas - Publication 1997 - Present
A bimonthly publication distributed via standard mail and e-mail to approximately 5,000 byway community members and other stakeholders. Each issue is also accessible online. Produced by America’s Byways Resource Center, each edition contains training, resources and news of interest to the byway community.
Work Synopsis
- Goal: To provide tools and resources on byway-specific topics to the byway community.
- Intensity: Articles focus on the four core learning areas: byway organization, finances, visitor experience and corridor management. Most articles and tools contain beginner and intermediate level content, and direct the reader to other resources and tools available on www.bywaysresourcecenter.org or other websites.
- Duration: The publication began in 1997 and was produced on a monthly basis until it was issued bimonthly in 2003.
- Product: Each issue is a 12- to 16-page printed publication; since November 2009, an HTML electronic version has been distributed via e-mail to opt-in readers. PDF and HTML formats of all past and current issues are available on www.bywaysresourcecenter.org.
- Outcome: A resource for byway organizations to share successes and challenges with their peers, and learn practical applications in core content areas from Byways Specialists and other experts.
- Continued Use: Byways Specialists at the America’s Byways Resource Center continue to use and refer practitioners to the tools and articles in Vistas as they provide technical assistance to byway groups in the field.
Byways Bulletin - 2004 - Present
A bimonthly publication distributed via e-mail to approximately 4,000 byway community members and other stakeholders. Each issue is also accessible online. Produced by the FHWA-National Scenic Byways Program, each edition contains time-sensitive legislative, grant and marketing news of interest to the byway community.
Work Synopsis
- Audience: State coordinators, Tribal coordinators, byway leaders, byway volunteers, and stakeholders. Interested parties can register to receive the newsletter at www.bywaysonline.org.
- Goal: To share time-sensitive legislative, grant and marketing news of interest to the byway community.
- Intensity: Each issue contains five to eight articles containing links where readers can find additional information.
- Duration: The Byways Bulletin has been distributed on an approximate bimonthly basis since May 2004.
- Product: An HTML-based e-newsletter distributed to approximately 4,126 e-mail addresses. Past and current newsletters are available for viewing on www.bywaysonline.org.
- Outcome: No quantifiable data is available, but an evaluation of the communications tool is planned for 2010.
- Continued Use: All past and present issues of the bulletin are archived and available on www.bywaysonline.org.
Discussion Forums - 2004 - Present
The FHWA-National Scenic Byways Program website hosts a variety of online discussion forums about byway-relevant topics. Byway leaders, volunteers and other stakeholders participate in these forums and share their experiences and expertise to learn from each other beyond the training, resources and tools that FHWA and America’s Byways Resource Center provide.
Work Synopsis
- Audience: The byway community, byway stakeholders, consultants, FHWA-National Scenic Byways Program staff, and America’s Byways Resource Center staff.
- Goal: To provide an opportunity for the byway community to share expertise on byway topics.
- Intensity: The forum identifies 12 topic areas where the byway community can post questions, answers, RFPs, job opportunities and more.
- Duration: The forum was created in April 2004, and approximately 800 messages have been posted to date.
- Product: An online message board, moderated by National Scenic Byways Online staff. Subscribers receive e-mail notifications when a new message has been posted to the forum.
- Outcome: Increased networking among the byway community.
- Continued Use: Posts are not deleted, so visitors can continue to view discussions that have taken place over the years.
Scenic Byway Awards - 2009, 2007, 2003, 2001
A partnership with the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and America’s Byways Resource Center has recognized model byway projects for selected categories in 2001, 2003, 2007 and 2009.
Work Synopsis
- Audience: State coordinators, Tribal coordinators, byway leaders, and byway volunteers.
- Goal: To share successful elements of model byway projects with the greater byway community.
- Intensity: A publication produced for each edition of the competition offers brief overviews, photographs and successful elements of the award-winning projects. To encourage networking among the byway community, the contact information for each project is provided for obtaining additional project information.
- Duration: The details of the award winning projects continue to be available on www.bywaysresourcecenter.org.
- Product: Full-color publications highlight award-winning projects. Projects were also announced, celebrated and showcased at poster discussion sessions during the National Scenic Byways Conference.
- Outcome: Recognition of successful byway projects and increased networking.
- Continued Use: Award-winning projects from the 2009 and 2007 awards programs will be included in the upcoming Byway Projects Database, which is searchable by project category, project type, State and more.
2009 Award Winners
2007 Award Winners
2003 Award Winners
2001 Award Winners
Websites
America’s Byways Resource Center and FHWA-National Scenic Byways Program provide relevant content and manage three websites, which are segmented by intended audience and use: Byways.org (1996), BywaysOnline.org (1996), and BywaysResourceCenter.org (2007). Digital analytics, derived from sources such as Google Analytics, offer tools for evaluating usage for each site. Combined, the websites serve to provide global marketing of America’s Byways®, support and train the byway community, publish FHWA information and maintain an inventory of all U.S. byways.
Work Synopsis for Byways.org
- Audience: The traveling public and media.
- Goal: To provide information, images, facts and driving routes for all 151 America’s Byways® to potential travelers and the media.
- Intensity: For January 1, 2009 to December 31, 2009: Total page views is 18,315,032. The percentage of unique visits to the website is 74%, with an average of 1.35 visits per visitor. Average pages per visit is 6.93. From these statistics, a comparison to the same period two years prior, for example, shows increases in all areas except time spent on the site; however, overall the findings indicate incremental growth in public awareness and user accessibility of the site.
- Duration: For January 1, 2009 to December 31, 2009: Total average time on the site is 249 seconds. From these statistics, a comparison to the same period two years prior, for example, shows a decrease in duration of 45 seconds, indicating perhaps that users are finding information more quickly.
- Product: An information-rich website, managed by National Scenic Byways Online at Utah State in cooperation with FHWA-National Scenic Byways Program.
- Outcome: This site has generated interest in America’s Byways among potential vehicular visitors as well as from the media.
- Continued Use: The analytics research shows continued growth among users, indicating that the site is providing relevant information to the intended audience.
Work Synopsis for BywaysOnline.org
- Audience: The Byway community as it seeks information about grants, designation nominations, discussion forums, U.S. byway inventory, and national marketing.
- Goal: To provide an online portal closely affiliated with FHWA for information specifically related to time-sensitive activities, such as submitting an application for national designation or grant funding, as well as offering a venue for peer-to-peer exchanges.
- Intensity: For January 1, 2009 to December 31, 2009: Total pageviews is 1,107,128. Average pages per visit is 8.61. The percentage of unique visits to the website is 54%, with an average of 1.85 visits per visitor. From these statistics, a comparison to the same period two years prior, for example, shows increases in all areas that substantiate incremental growth in user accessibility of the site.
- Duration: For January 1, 2009 to December 31, 2009: Total average time on the site is 392 minutes. From these statistics, a comparison to the same period two years prior, for example, shows an increase in duration of 29 seconds, indicating that users are finding more relevant content to explore.
- Product: An information-rich website, managed by National Scenic Byways Online at Utah State in cooperation with FHWA-National Scenic Byways Program.
- Outcome: This site has generated 202 nomination submissions for designation and 3,268 grant submissions, as well as 800 entries in the Discussion Forums.
- Continued Use: The analytics research shows continued growth among users, indicating that the site is providing relevant information to the intended audience.
Work Synopsis for BywaysResourceCenter.org
- Audience: Byway leaders, State and Tribal coordinators, and byway volunteers.
- Goal: To provide training, resources, tools and news to the byway community on topics critical to byway success.
- Intensity: For January 1, 2009 to December 31, 2009: Total pageviews is 95,046. Average pages per visit is 3.63. The percentage of new visitors to the site is 38.45, or 61.55% returning visitors. From these statistics, a comparison to the same period two years prior, for example, shows increases in nearly all areas except average number of pages per visit, helping to substantiate incremental growth in user accessibility and familiarity of the site (returning visitors do not visit as many pages, since they know where to look for their information). The most common visits occurred in content related to events, resources, staff, or topics.
- Duration: For January 1, 2009 to December 31, 2009: Total average time on the site is 2:42 minutes. A comparison to the same period two years prior shows that visitors spent an average of 5:24 minutes at the site. This could indicate that users are finding more relevant content more quickly than before.
- Product: An information-rich website, managed by America’s Byways Resource Center.
- Outcome: This site has become a repository of information, tools and other resources that includes over 1,085 pages of relevant byway information.
- Continued Use: The analytics research shows continued growth among users, indicating that the site is providing relevant information to the intended audience.
Map Booklets/Brochures - Publication - 2000 to Present
The FHWA-National Scenic Byways Program produced a 125-page map booklet containing facts, maps and description for America’s Byways®. The booklet is free to the public, and requests are accepted via www.byways.org.
Work Synopsis
- Audience: The traveling public and media.
- Goal: To provide a printed user-friendly guide to America’s Byways®, including maps, facts and descriptions of all of the nationally designated byways through 2005, organized by region.
- Intensity: Self-guided material.
- Duration: Self-guided material.
- Product: A brochure-sized, user-friendly guide, featuring the America’s Byways collection through the 2005 designations. The booklet includes maps, facts and descriptions of all of the nationally designated byways, listed by region.
- Outcome: Total number of map booklets/brochures that have been distributed since 2000: 525,094.
- Continued Use: As printed material, the maps provide ongoing reference material.
National Scenic Byways Marketing Toolkit - Publication - 2000
A toolkit designed to provide a relevant reference guide for byways to transition from product development to a marketing implementation plan.
Work Synopsis
- Audience: Byway leaders, State and Tribal coordinators, byway marketing contacts and byway community members.
- Goal: To provide marketing technical assistance to byways seeking to create their own marketing strategies. The toolkit was designed to provide a relevant reference guide for byways to transition from product development to a marketing implementation plan.
- Intensity: The National Scenic Byways Program Marketing Committee provided guidance in developing the topics.
- Duration: No quantifiable data exists; however, the toolkit continues to serve as a reference for developing or enhancing new training, articles and tools.
- Product: 500 copies produced and distributed to nationally designated byways.
- Outcome: No quantifiable data exists.
- Continued Use: The tool, while still relevant, is no longer available for distribution. However, trainings and articles produced by the America’s Byways Resource Center over the years have been based on concepts from the toolkit.
Byway Beginnings - Publication - 1999
Produced by the FHWA-National Scenic Byways Program, this publication provides the byway community with information on how to conduct an inventory and evaluation of a byway’s intrinsic qualities
Work Synopsis
- Audience: Byway leaders, State and Tribal coordinators, and byway community members.
- Goal: To provide the byway community with information on how to conduct an inventory and evaluation of a byway’s intrinsic qualities.
- Intensity: Self-study, in most cases.
- Duration: Self-study, in most cases.
- Product: An 80-page publication containing worksheets for each chapter. 5,000 copies were produced and distributed to State coordinators and byway leaders. It was produced in partnership with the FHWA-National Scenic Byways Program and NPS-Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program.
- Outcome: No quantifiable data exists.
- Continued Use: Most information in this publication, which is no longer available, is still relevant today. Much of the content was woven into the Byways 101 online self-study course produced by the America’s Byways Resource Center in Spring 2009.
