Services About Contact

Trail Planning & Active Transportation Consulting

Every network starts
with finding the
right path.

We bring planning expertise, spatial analysis, and community knowledge to the work of turning active transportation goals into coherent, connected systems.

Start a conversation Our services
Feasibility Studies Network Planning GIS Analysis Policy Review Stakeholder Facilitation Design Review

What we do

Planning that connects people to places, and to each other.

We work with municipalities, nonprofits, and grant-funded organizations across North Carolina on active transportation and trail projects of all scales, from individual feasibility studies to network-wide planning.

Feasibility & Planning Studies

Rigorous analysis of opportunities, constraints, and community context, giving decision-makers the evidence they need to move forward with confidence. Stakeholder facilitation is available as an add-on, helping build alignment across community interests before and during the planning process.

Network Planning & GIS

Spatial analysis and network-level thinking that reveals how individual projects fit into and strengthen the broader active transportation system. We also offer independent review of trail and active transportation design documents, with an eye toward constructability, user experience, and long-term maintenance.

Policy & Standards Review

Evaluation of existing plans, codes, and standards to identify gaps and opportunities, with practical recommendations grounded in real-world implementation.

Natural Surface Trails

We bring focused expertise to natural surface trail planning, with particular attention to how these trails can function as meaningful parts of a connected active transportation network.

About

Rooted in advocacy.
Grounded in planning.

Pathfinder Planning + Design is the practice of Jason Merrill, a planner, advocate, and elected official based in Carrboro, North Carolina. The practice grew out of years of active transportation advocacy, ongoing academic research at UNC Chapel Hill on how natural surface trails fit into urban transportation systems, and twenty years of experience in the bicycle industry. That combination of community roots, planning credentials, and elected office isn't common in the consulting world, and it shapes how Pathfinder works: we bring hard-won credibility and genuine expertise to every project, not just deliverables.

20+
Years of active transportation advocacy and community engagement
GIS
Spatial analysis and network-level planning as core deliverables
Jason Merrill Jason Merrill
Principal

Get in touch

Let's talk about
your next project.

Whether you're scoping a feasibility study, working through a network planning challenge, or trying to figure out whether a project is fundable, we're happy to have an early conversation. No obligation, no hard sell.

* Required