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By RYDER SCHUMACHER, Journal Tribune Staff Writer, Published 2/15/17

YORK COUNTY —Bikers and hikers of York County may have a new trail to traverse in another year, as actions to extend the Eastern Trail in York County have picked up momentum.

Wells and Kennebunk have been working conjointly to extend the Eastern Trail — 65 miles of recreational trail extending from South Portland to Kittery— from its cutoff point in Kennebunk, near Alewife Road, to its cut off near Pratt and Whitney in Wells; a total length of about 8.5 miles where the trail contains a gap.

The towns applied for a split grant with the Department of Transportation last year to hire a consultant to conduct land surveys of the trails proposed path. Both towns are awaiting final plans, but according to Wells Town Planner Mike Livingston, constructing the extension should prove to be a smooth process.

“In Wells and portions of Kennebunk, the trail’s going to be located on an existing old railroad bed that’s been abandoned for 100 years,” Livingston said. “Other than a few brook crossings and a few road intersections that will require some construction our route is going to be less expensive than what’s been expended in the past.”

According to the Eastern Trail website, the rail line operated as a mode of transport from Portland to Boston from 1842 to 1945 and was known as the Eastern Railroad Corridor. The line ran through Scarborough, South Portland, Saco and parts of southern York County, including North Berwick.

In 1965, after the railways’ services had ended, Portland Gas Light purchased most of the abandoned right-of-way and constructed a below ground natural gas line that is still in use today. Unitil, a public utilities company from New Hampshire, bought the line in 2008.

The current plan is that the extension trail will follow the railway on the opposite side of the entrenched gas line, Livingston said, adding that the towns have met with Unitil representatives on multiple occasions to ensure the trails path along the right-of-way.

“We just need to make sure we don’t effect the gas line,” Livingston said.

Additionally, the towns have applied for another grant with the DOT for land that still requires surveying for the proposed trail extension in both Wells and Kennebunk. Afterwards, the construction of the trail will be much clearer says Livingston.

Read the entire article online here.

By Melanie Sochan, published on February 9, 2017

SCARBOROUGH — The Eastern Trail Alliance is just under $600,000 away from starting a 1.6-mile Close the Gap project.

The alliance has already raised more than $3.2 million towards the $3.8 million project, closing in on the funding needed to make the proposal a reality.

The funding must be in place before construction can begin. Alliance representatives said construction won’t begin until 2018.

Close the Gap would connect the trail in South Portland to Scarborough, and bridging the area would create a 16-mile continuous off-road trail from Bug Light in South Portland to downtown Saco.

The 1.6 miles would link the Wainwright Recreation Complex in South Portland and a section of trail in Scarborough that ends at the Nonesuch River, near Eastern Road.

Cyclists and pedestrians now have to traverse the streets of Gary Marietta Way, Highland Avenue, Black Point Road and Eastern Road to continue on the trail.

Carole Brush, executive director of the Eastern Trail Alliance, said the surface of the new section will be made of stone dust. The funding would pay for two bridges in Scarborough – one over the Nonesuch River off Eastern Road and another that would cross the Pan Am Railways track near Pleasant Hill Road.

Diana Nelson, a volunteer with ETA and director of communications at Black Fly Media, said the company has published drone video of the Eastern Trail that includes aerials of the land and river where the two bridges will be built. The 51-second video can be viewed at https://vimeo.com/191156005.

According to Brush, funding includes $1.55 million from the Maine Department of Transportation and $1.1 million from the Portland Area Comprehensive Transportation System. Town and Country Federal Credit Union donated $100,000 in December for the project. The Eastern Trail Alliance has matched $50,000 in donations, for a total contribution of $100,000. Other large donations have come from the town of Scarborough ($216,000), WEX ($25,000), Avangrid ($25,000) and the Thompson family ($25,000).

Donations may be made at active.com/donate/closegap.

Read the entire article online here

Published in the Scarborough Leader, Community News, 2/3/2107

Town & Country Federal Credit Union announced that it will make the largest philanthropic gift in credit union history to the Eastern Trail Alliance’s Close the Gap campaign.

A bridge will be built in honor of two board members who, between them, volunteered over 85 years at the credit union.

Town & Country Federal Credit Union, a leading Maine-based financial institution and active supporter of projects designed to connect communities across Southern Maine, will donate $100,000 to the alliance’s Close the Gap project.

The project aims to complete a 1.6- mile gap that interrupts off-road travel between South Portland and Saco.

This gift marks Town & Country’s largest gift to a single community initiative in the credit union’s 63-year history and the largest single gift ever made by any Maine credit union.

“This project is symbolic of Town & Country’s mission to create a personal connection with each of our members,” says CEO David Libby. “The Eastern Trail connects dozens of Maine communities and completing this missing piece in Scarborough will enhance that community connection and create accessibility for even more Mainers.”

Town & Country is making this donation in recognition of two long-time volunteer board members, who together dedicated over 85 years of service.

“We are pleased to make this gift in honor of Wilfred Couture and Edward Connolly, two people who worked tirelessly on behalf of the credit union and our community for eight decades,” Libby said.

The $100,000 gift will be earmarked to build the ‘Connolly-Couture’ bridge over the Nonesuch River on the trail between South Portland and Scarborough.

Wilfred Couture, a resident of South Portland, celebrated 40 years of service to Town & Country’s board in 2016.

Read the entire article on-line here

Go here to view a related article in the same Scarborough Leader issue about donations made by the Scarborough Community Chamber of Commerce, and the South Portland/Cape Elizabeth Chamber of Commerce.

The gift from Town & Country Federal Credit Union will be used to complete a 1.6-mile gap in the Eastern Trail as it runs through Scarborough.

By Kelley Bouchard, Portland Press Herald Staff Writer

Town & Country Federal Credit Union will donate $100,000 to the Eastern Trail Alliance’s plan to complete a 1.6-mile gap in the off-road trail as it runs through Scarborough, credit union officials announced Tuesday.

The gift is the largest made by the credit union in its 63-year history and one of the largest ever made by a credit union in Maine.

“This project is symbolic of Town & Country’s mission to create a personal connection with each of our members,” credit union CEO David Libby said in a news release. “The Eastern Trail connects dozens of Maine communities and completing this missing piece in Scarborough will enhance that community connection and create accessibility for even more Mainers.”

The Eastern Trail is a 65-mile section of the on- and off-road East Coast Greenway that runs between South Portland and Kittery. When the Scarborough gap is completed, the recreational pathway will have 16 miles of uninterrupted, off-road access from Bug Light in South Portland to downtown Saco.

Town & Country, which operates six branches in South Portland, Scarborough, Saco and Portland, is making the donation in honor of two longtime volunteer board members, Wilfred Couture and the late Edward Connolly, who together dedicated over 85 years of service to the credit union.

Libby described Couture and Connolly as “two people who worked tirelessly on behalf of the credit union and our community for eight decades.”

The $100,000 gift will be earmarked to build a bridge over the Nonesuch River that will be named after the two men, Libby said.

Read the entire article online here.

Go here to read an article about the donation in the Town & Country Federal Credit Union/s e-newsletter.

The ambitious Eastern Trail project will add another key component next year, as work begins on a 1.6 mile section to connect South Portland and Scarborough.

By Deirdre Fleming, Portland Press Herald Staff Writer

SCARBOROUGH — While the first frigid gusts of winter swept across the Scarborough Marsh last week, Janice Cohen had warmer thoughts as she walked her black Labrador, Abe, along the Eastern Trail. When Cohen learned the trail would be extended, she stopped to envision the impact.

“We bought our home next to the Eastern Trail because of the Eastern Trail,” said Cohen, who moved to Portland from Hallowell two years ago. 

“I believe in community. Walking on the same trail every day, you get to know the people who use it. People have a safe place to walk. It connects people. Roads don’t connect people, but trails do.”

This time next year, work will begin on the 1.6-mile section of the Eastern Trail that will connect South Portland to Scarborough, linking four towns along a 16-mile off-road path that runs along the coast in the most developed part of Maine. And users of the trail are delighted about the plans to close the gap over the Nonesuch River.

Read the entire article online here.

By Michael Kelley Staff Writer, Scarborough Leader – published 12/9/16

The race is on to raise the remaining funds to extend the Eastern Trail and form a connection between Scarborough and South Portland.

While the gap is only 1.6 miles – from Defosses Avenue in Scarborough to Wainwright Recreation Complex in South Portland – making the connection has proven difficult, and costly, due to the need to cross over the Nonesuch River and Amtrak/ Pan American rail line. The gap is the only piece missing of an off-road trail between South Portland and Saco.

“It’s a small piece of mileage, but really a critical piece,” said Carole Brush, executive director of the Eastern Trail Alliance, the volunteer based organization that was formed in 1997 to develop the Eastern Trail.

The Eastern Trail, which covers 65 miles from Kittery to South Portland, is the northern section of the East Coast Greenway, a trail system spanning 2,900 miles between Calais, Maine and Key West, Florida.

Approximately $600,000 of the $3.8 million cost is still outstanding. Town Planner Dan Bacon said half the cost of the project – $1.6 to $2 million – is due to the need to construct a bridge and the associated approaches over the Pan-American railway, which is used several times a day by the Amtrak Downeaster and freight trains. The bridge over the Nonesuch River, by comparison, is much easier and cheaper. Because the bridge abutments are still in place from where the old Eastern Railroad crossed the river, and only a bridge is needed the cost is expected to be between $100,000 and $140,000.

You can read the entire article online here.

The group is closing in on a financial target to construct a difficult portion of an envisioned 64-mile path.

[The following article, by Deirdre Fleming, Staff Writer of the Portland Press Herald, gives great exposure to the ETA’s current Close the Gap campaign]

SCARBOROUGH — The Eastern Trail Alliance announced Tuesday that it is close to a fundraising goal that would allow the trail to run 16 miles uninterrupted from Bug Light in South Portland to Saco.

The alliance needs just over $600,000 to complete a $3.8 million capital campaign that would allow for construction of a difficult section of the trail that spans a railroad track and the Nonesuch River.

The Eastern Trail is envisioned as a 64-mile off-road bike-and pedestrian path reaching from South Portland to Kittery. Already 22 miles of the trail runs through portions of South Portland, Scarborough, Old Orchard Beach, Saco, Biddeford, Arundel and Kennebunk. The non-profit Eastern Trail Alliance and the municipalities along the southern Maine coast are behind the effort to extend the trail.

By far the trickiest section to build is the 1.6-mile stretch that will run over the Pan Am Railroad and the Nonesuch River in Scarborough, said Dan Bacon, Scarborough’s town planner and a member of the alliance.

“Getting over the railroad is a huge feat for many different reasons,” said Carole Brush, the Eastern Trail Alliance executive director. “Obviously crossing an active rail line with a trail that has to be … made a certain grade and also has to be a certain number of feet above the railroad tracks makes it a really long bridge. It will be longer than the Eastern Trail bridge over the (Maine Turnpike). The trail will then be wonderful for recreation and commuting on a section of the trail that is heavily used.”

The Eastern Trail Alliance estimated through a 2014 survey that roughly 90,000 people use the trail annually and spend a total of $1 million while using it, Brush said.

The 1.6-mile section will connect the trail from the Wainwright Sports Complex in South Portland to the other side of the Nonesuch River in Scarborough off Black Point Road.

Roughly $2 million of the estimated $3.8 million cost of the project will go toward the railroad bridge due to the bridge’s height – rising 20 to 22 feet above the tracks, said Bacon, who has worked with the engineering firm – HNTB Corporation of Westbrook – that designed the new section of trail.

The bridge over the Nonesuch River, which can use existing stone abutments, will cost around $100,000, Bacon said.

The 1.6-mile section also will cut through wetlands, three private residential properties and land owned by Central Maine Power. The alliance is working on securing easements.

“We’ve been working with private landowners and knitting together a passable route for this trail that will have minimal impact,” said Scarborough Town Manager Tom Hall. “There are three landowners and there have been hurdles to get over, but I’m confident we will.”

The project received $1.5 million from the Maine Department of Transportation and $1.2 million from the Portland Area Comprehensive Transportation System, a federally mandated organization that works to improve transportation in Greater Portland.

Joyce Taylor, the Maine transportation department’s chief engineer, said there’s no time frame for the alliance to secure the $1.5 million grant.

“I think it’s a very important section and it helps close the gap in an area where we think people will get the most use and it will really make a difference,” Taylor said. “We’re in it for $1.5 million if they’re willing to match it. We want to see this done. We want to work with them. They’re showing a great effort.”

The campaign also received $216,000 this year from the town of Scarborough as well as $44,000 from the town in 2014. South Portland contributed another $26,000, and the alliance contributed and raised $100,000 through donations, Brush said.

Read the entire article online here.

Please take a minute to watch and share this drone video shot by Black Fly Media for the Close the Gap Campaign.

If you can, please share on your social channels, share in your eNewsletters, and tag @eastern trail and @blackflymedia as you see fit.

“Close the Gap” is a formal fundraising campaign…

… which has already raised well over $3 million toward the goal of $3.8 million. A key piece of trail is missing in Scarborough. A 1.6-mile “gap” interrupts off-road travel between South Portland and Saco. The construction of this critical trail segment, which includes two bridges will close this gap and provide 16 continuous off-road miles reaching from South Portland’s Bug Light to Downtown Saco.

More information on the Close the Gap campaign can be found here.