Retired warehouseman George Redman loves to hit the trail - the asphalt ribbon that runs only a few blocks from his house in East Providence, R.I. Year-round, the 79-year-old grabs his trusty 10-speed Schwinn, the one with the saddlebags on the back and an additional bag in the front, and takes a daily spin, often 20 miles or more along Narragansett Bay.

Besides offering ample fresh air and exercise, the bicycle rides connect Mr. Redman to people and places in a way that nothing else does.

He explores towns, stops to read a book or buy a bottle of water, and frequents his favorite sandwich shop, the Café la France in Bristol, R.I., with its outdoor tables and bike rack.

Unlike traditional bike paths, the trail Redman uses isn't strictly recreational. It is utilitarian. Instead of just passing through lovely scenery, it takes him and others to useful places, illustrating what some experts see as the future of trails.

In the past, recreational trails were typically located outside cities, says Richard Killingsworth, director of Active Living by Design, a program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. "This didn't allow them to connect destinations of interest. But now we're entering a new kind of paradigm, looking at how trails can be used as transportation corridors, located in dense residential areas where they connect people to places they want to go."

The shift is an acknowledgment that trails must integrate with everyday lives. Otherwise they serve a relatively small constituency of Lycra-clad cycling enthusiasts and suburbanites out for Saturday fun or exercise rides, which begin by driving to the trail.

Nowadays, the idea is to make it easy and attractive to think the way Europeans do, who are more inclined than Americans to cycle during their daily rounds.

Certainly Redman is a pedaling billboard for the benefits of regular trail use. And Rhode Island, where he rides, is an excellent example of the networking that is increasingly connecting scattered, local trail-building efforts.

The East Bay Bike Path runs 14-1/2 miles through towns and hamlets, eventually making a connection that leads into Providence, where the plan is for several trails to converge and link to the ambitious East Coast Greenway, a 2,600-mile work in progress.

When completed, possibly by 2010, this interurban, firm-surface equivalent to the Appalachian Trail will run from the Canadian border in Maine to the Florida Keys.

It's being pieced together - like a massive quilt - sometimes in high-visibility areas. Last year, for example, one stretch was designated that runs along the Mall in Washington, at the heart of the nation's capital. Another metro trail runs to Washington National Airport.

Major trails, such as the East Coast Greenway, are like tree trunks from which many branches (local trails) grow.Mark Fenton, a cycling advocate and host of the PBS program "America's Walking," says that creating numerous connections is the key to the increased usage public trails have begun to experience.

This is evident in Seattle, which has set itself apart with bike-friendly initiatives, including the Burke-Gilman trail, a granddaddy among urban trails. "Much of what has happened there," Mr. Fenton says, "is not at all glamorous. It's [a network of] little neighborhood connectors - maybe the cut-through at the end of a cul de sac that allows you to access a trail from a neighborhood that connects to a school or a playground or something like that. It makes all the difference in the world."

Trail connectivity is a challenge, especially in built-up areas. This is where unused or abandoned railroad corridors and canal towpaths have come in handy.

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