Valparaiso pathways and greenways offer numerous economic benefits, including higher real estate property values, increased tourism and recreation-related revenues, and cost savings for public services. Greenways have been shown to raise the value of adjacent properties by as much as 5-20%. For example, in a residential development in Raleigh, North Carolina, new lots situated on a greenway were priced $5,000 higher than comparable lots off the greenway.
Many home buyers and corporations are looking for real estate that provides direct access to public and private greenway systems. Greenways are viewed as amenities by residential, commercial, and office park developers who realize higher rental values and profits from when they locate next to greenways. Additionally, greenways can save local tax dollars by utilizing resource-based strategies for hazard mitigation and managing community storm water, thus placing into productive use landscapes that would not normally be considered for conventional development.
Greenways enhance the role tourism plays in the economy. Tourism is ranked as the number one economic force in the world. In several states, regional areas, and localities throughout the nation, greenways have been specifically created to capture the tourism potential of a regional landscape or cultural destination. The state of Missouri, for example, spent $6 million to create the 200-mile KATY Trail, which, in its first full-year of operation, generated travel and tourism expenditures of more than $6 million.