Lawrence Hopewell Trail co-founders honored with Roger Herz Greenway Award

PRINCETON, New Jersey — Eleanor Horne and Becky Taylor, the visionary co-founders of New Jersey’s Lawrence Hopewell Trail, are the recipients of the East Coast Greenway Alliance’s second-annual Roger Herz Greenway and Active Mobility Award, which recognizes outstanding contributions to promoting sustainable transportation and active mobility. 

Honoring longtime New York City bicycle advocate Roger Herz, the awards were presented to Horne and Taylor on Sept. 30 during a special dinner in Princeton, New Jersey.

“This year, we are delighted to honor the outstanding and impactful work of a dynamic duo who have committed decades to achieving transformational change in their region,” said East Coast Greenway Alliance Executive Director Dennis Markatos-Soriano. “Their partnership is truly inspiring, and their ability to bring the community together has created a beautiful trail that now connects to the East Coast Greenway in the Garden State. We especially appreciate Eleanor bringing her wisdom and positive energy to our Advisory Board since 2019.”

The 20-mile Lawrence Hopewell Trail, one of New Jersey's premier trails for walking, running and biking, exists because of the hard work and dedication of Horne and Taylor. Together, they garnered the support of more than 20 public, private and nonprofit organizations to make this transformational trail a reality.

“I am deeply honored to share the East Coast Greenway Alliance’s Roger Herz Award with my dear friend Becky Taylor,” Horne said. “We were fortunate to lead a phenomenal team of community and governmental leaders whose vision, determination and tenacity not only resulted in a beautiful, much loved, heavily used trail and community amenity, but also a model of a strong, enduring, successful collaboration of volunteers, municipal and county government,  nonprofits and corporate partners. In so many ways, the Roger Herz Award is a tribute to our community at its very best.”

“Building, enjoying and sustaining the Lawrence Hopewell Trail over two decades was one of the greatest experiences of my life, and I’m honored that my longtime friend and partner in that effort, Eleanor Horne, and I are being recognized by the East Coast Greenway with the Roger Herz Award,” said Taylor. 

The Lawrence Hopewell Trail is a rarity in that it came to life in the early 2000s thanks to Horne and Taylor’s leadership from the private sector. Taylor, then an executive at Bristol-Myers Squibb, conceived of the trail after her husband was forced off the road while biking. Wanting a safer option, she approached Horne, at the time vice president of Educational Testing Service’s social investment fund, with an idea to create a trail connecting corporate campuses to county parkland. The companies became the physical anchors of the trail and provided the initial financial support.

Connecting Hopewell and Lawrence Townships, the trail offers a safe space for children, families, bicyclists, joggers, hikers and commuters. The family-oriented trail is designed to promote recreation, healthier lifestyles, better mobility and commuting and a cleaner environment. Annually, more than 100,000 people use the trail, which winds through public parks, corporate campuses and municipal centers.

Following the opening of a new boardwalk section earlier this year, the trail is more than 93% complete. The Lawrence Hopewell Trail is a part of the Circuit Trails, a network of more than 415 miles of multi-use trails in the Greater Philadelphia and southern New Jersey region.

In 2023, after more than two decades of service, Horne and Taylor formally stepped back from their leadership roles with the nonprofit Lawrence Hopewell Trail Corporation. Taylor has now shifted her energy to Trenton, where among other things she has created a community-building walking group. 

Taylor adds, “Trails enable mobility and connectivity for everyone, and they provide a space for us to enjoy healthy, energizing and stimulating activities. I’m thrilled to continue working on transportation and mobility issues and can’t overstate the value of trails in community engagement opportunities among friends, neighbors and even strangers, where people can walk and ride together and enjoy nature and the outdoors and get where they need to go.”

This award honors Herz, who passed away on Aug. 24, 2022, at age 88 after a life well-lived as an activist and advocate standing up for safe and accessible biking routes, city planning and other important issues. 

As detailed in his obituary, “Roger’s interest in biking began in 1966 when he purchased his first adult bike to use as transportation during the transit strike. This led him to founding and acting as executive director of Bicycle Transportation Action as well as being one of five founders of Transportation Alternatives. His motto, ‘better futile than passive,’ led Roger to accomplish what others would not even attempt. He almost single-handedly compelled the City Council to pass a non-binding resolution against Mayor Koch's 1987 Midtown Manhattan Bicycle Ban, which eventually led to its repeal. He was a municipal gadfly.”

EdMundo Martinez, a long-time micromobility and active transportation advocate from The Bronx, New York, was the recipient of the inaugural Roger Herz Award in 2024.