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Archived News
August 27, 20150

In From the Outdoors: Q&A with Paul Schumacher and Lee Burnett, trail advocates

SPRINGVALE — A year ago Paul Schumacher and Lee Burnett began brainstorming over a question local business owners repeatedly asked: Could York County have more connecting trails?

Schumacher, the director of the Southern Maine Planning and Economic Development Commission, said the requests made sense: Trails help tourism, improve quality of life and increase the value of real estate.

So he got together with Burnett, project director at Forest Works!, which conserves forestland in York County, and began to examine the possibility of a large, interconnecting trail network.

What has resulted is a plan to connect the county’s trails using the Eastern Trail as the backbone. The ET runs through South Portland, Scarborough, Old Orchard Beach, Saco, Arundel and Kennebunk, but the goal is to connect it through Wells, South Berwick, North Berwick and Eliot.

How did this project start?

PS: At a meeting two years ago, local businesses kept asking about trails. It’s a quality-of life-issue, a quality-of-place issue. And York County does have a lot of trails on land owned by state agencies, nonprofits, land trusts, municipalities, and land trusts and water districts. What we realized was the (proposed) Eastern Trail here runs right through the center of the region. It could be the backbone of a larger trail network. So we applied for a grant with the Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund and received $12,500. We were able to use it to get a matching grant for $22,000. We’ve spent that data-gathering, mapping, gathering all the trails, using GPS to locate some of the trails.

In a way this was more than we were prepared for. We proposed a trail from the coast to Parsonsfield, near the New Hampshire border, creating an integrated trail system. That was the dream. Now we’ll need money to build the trail network.

LB: It’s challenging because there are a lot of property owners in southern Maine. And a lot of property owners don’t mind people on their land but they don’t want to open it up to the public and have people from Massachusetts littering on their land, or worse. It’s a lot more suburban here.

Read the whole article online here

ETA Press Releases
August 21, 20150

EASTERN TRAIL ALLIANCE HOSTS 12th ANNUAL MAINE LIGHTHOUSE RIDE ON SEPTEMBER 12

Press ReleaseETA ogo

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: (207) 284-9260
eta@EasternTrail.org


South Portland, Maine, August 14 — Those 1,200 riders fortunate enough to register in time for the 2015 Maine Lighthouse Ride will celebrate summer’s last hurrah on their bicycle seats, while supporting the Eastern Trail Alliance’s mission to complete construction of the ET’s off-road route.

Against a backdrop of historic lighthouses, rocky coast and sandy beaches, avid cyclists from all over North America will ride in support of the ETA on Saturday, September 12 for the 12th Annual Maine Lighthouse Ride. Participants will set out to cover 25, 40, 62 or 100 miles, beginning and ending at Southern Maine Community College.

“With the event full at 1,200 riders, the Maine Lighthouse Ride is clearly one of the most popular rides in New England,” said Bob Bowker, the ride’s founder and spokesperson. “The combination of scenic Maine coastline, plenty of good food, and dozens of friendly volunteers keeps ’em coming back for more!”

In recent years, MLR riders have hailed from more than two-dozen states, but this year Iowa will bring something special to our event. Team in Training Iowa (TNT), a sports training program that benefits The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, brings a field of nearly 70 riders after deciding that they couldn’t go wrong with this ever more popular New England ride.

“As soon as we started to do this, so many people wanted to do the ride,” said Kelly Billings, TNT campaign manager for the Iowa chapter. “Many of them look forward to seeing the lighthouses, and many have never been to the East Coast, so they’re excited.”

All of our registered MLR riders are provided with maps, cue sheets, multiple rest stops, hot food, portable restrooms and a hand washing station, plus on-call support vehicles. Special offerings this year include Shipyard beer and Portland Pie pizza after the ride.

Riders can also expect a warm, encouraging greeting upon their return, from our troop of volunteers and their array of noisemakers and musical instruments! We warmly welcome — and can always use more — volunteers to spend the day with us. This page has the details and who to contact: http://easterntrail.org/index.php/join-us/volunteer-with-us.

While registration is closed for this year’s MLR, trail supporters and MLR enthusiasts alike can find information for the 2016 MLR in the coming weeks on our website, http://easterntrail.org. Photos from last year’s ride can be found at: //www.flickr.com/photos/53937668@N05/collections/72157647393518476/“>https://www.flickr.com/photos/53937668@N05/collections/72157647393518476/.

Archived News
August 21, 20150

“Adding Trails to Rails Saves Lives” – a 2008 ETA Study

Can Trails Make Rails Safer?
Annually 500 trespassers are killed in rail corridors.
With 142,000 miles of freight corridor, that s an annual fatality rate of One fatality for every 300 miles of rail corridor.
Not even one fatality has been recorded during the 40-year history of rails-with-trails for a pessimistically estimated annual fatality rate of One fatality for every 8000 miles.
Can we explain this 26-to-1 difference in fatality rates?
Americans, rightly or wrongly, consider rail corridors to be trails. If Rails are trails, they are terribly dangerous ones. They are also poor trails, awkward to walk.
Simply by providing a better, nearby trail, people apparently walk on the real trails thus reducing rail trespass fatality rates.

Latest News
July 31, 20150

MLR Bike Jerseys Can be Ordered Online for Home Delivery

We are excited to again offer a Maine Lighthouse Bike Jersey for 2016 – you can see the new jersey design to the left. You can order one or more jerseys and they will be shipped to you – these make great gifts as well.

Jerseys can be ordered online now – directly from Atayne, which “makes performance outdoor clothing and sports apparel that is safe for people and the planet.”

You can also still order the great jersey designs from our 2015, 2014 and 2013 rides.

More info on the jerseys and pictures here

Latest News
July 15, 20150

The Governor signed a bill to protect walkers, bicyclists and other vulnerable users!

From our wonderful colleagues at the Bicycle Coalition of Maine:

We are incredibly excited to announce a big victory at the State House for all bicyclists and pedestrians in Maine.

For the past six months we’ve been working hard in support of The Bicycle / Pedestrian Safety and Responsibility Act (LD 1301). On Friday, June 12, Governor LePage signed this important bill into law.

As a result of our hard work, and with the help of thousands of members, supporters, and local, state, and national partners, important improvements that will better protect all users of our roads have now been added to Maine law. This legislation accomplishes three main goals:

1. Maine law now defines a “Vulnerable User” as a person on the public way who is more vulnerable to injury than a person in a motor vehicle. This definition includes pedestrians, bicyclists, wheelchair users, those driving tractors, and others. The new law also strengthens Drivers Education programs by requiring courses to include increased instruction on protecting the rights and safety of vulnerable users.

2. The law also increases protections for walkers, runners, and wheelchair crossing the street by requiring drivers yield to pedestrians who are attempting to cross the street at a marked crosswalk. Before this change, drivers only had to yield when pedestrians at a marked crosswalk stepped out into the road.

3. In addition to the added protections for pedestrians and all vulnerable users, the law also provides needed clarification regarding the responsibilities of bicyclists; namely their duty to obey yield signs, stop signs, one-way streets, and traffic lights.

Please click here for more information, to read the full text of the new law and to view our press release.

We could not have won this campaign without the help of so many members, supporters and partners. Thank you for being a part of this important effort!

Latest News
July 15, 20150

Two Sections of Eastern Trail Recognized as Family-Friendly Community Bike Trail

No surprise here – two sections of the Eastern Trail were among 6 trails recognized as family-friendly community bike trails in Maine, according to the 4/30 Portland Press Herald. 

 

Scarborough Marsh – “This trail is a lot of fun for birding enthusiasts if you want to make frequent stops to look at the marsh birds. The smooth, packed-gravel surface and lack of hills on this path make for a very easy and pleasant ride with kids.”

Greenbelt Walkway in South Portland – “The diversity of sights along this trail is fun – from a view of the water and lovely backyard gardens (the trail abuts quite a few homes) to the woods and open fields. And Mill Creek Park and Bug Light are great spots for a picnic lunch.”

Check out the full article here.

Latest News
July 15, 20150

A Reminder About Leash Laws that Apply on the Eastern Trail in the Scarborough Marsh Area

We want to remind trail users in the Scarborough Marsh areas of the leash laws that apply between April 1 and October 1. The policy is expressed on signs that are posted in that area:

“For the purposes of protecting important wildlife habitat, all dogs must be leashed on this portion of the Eastern Trail and marsh between Pine Point Road and Black Point Road”

“If you have questions about this, please contact the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, 358 Shaker Road, Gray, Maine 04039, (207) 657-2345 ext. 110”

Latest News
July 15, 20150

LD 193 – A Bond to Fund Backlogged Bicycle and Pedestrian Projects

Communities across Maine are increasingly mindful of the enormous benefit of planning more pedestrian and bike spaces like the Eastern Trail, even as deep cuts have been made to federal funding for such projects. This has left the state with a backlog of projects waiting for planning and/or construction funds. A bill being considered by the Maine Legislature, LD 193, would help to clear the backlog, which can only help everyone who values greater pedestrian and bike access, as we hope you do. Our friends at the Bicycle Coalition of Maine have assembled some info about the bill, and reminders about the positive impact these projects have on their communities. Please follow this link to learn how you can let our state leaders know that you support funding these important projects.

https://www.easterntrail.org/
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