Two major organizations in Maine, the Bicycle Coalition of Maine, and the Biddeford/Saco Chamber of Commerce, bestowed honors in January 2012 on John Andrews, the founder and President Emeritus of the Eastern Trail Alliance.
The Bicycle Coalition of Maine honored John Andrews with one of their annual awards for “individuals for their work to improve bicycling in Maine.” The Biddeford/Saco Chamber of Commerce honored John with the William Kany Leadership Award.
“Andrews, a retired engineer, served as founding president of the Eastern Trail Alliance until last summer. For 15 years, he led the effort to create a multi-use trail from Kittery to South Portland. Along the way, he secured funding, convinced municipalities to work together, won support from politicians and overcame many other obstacles. The trail now extends for nearly 21 miles in southern Maine.
Andrews “met an enormously wide array of people with all sorts of connections to his Eastern Trail dreams – directors of corporations, everyday common citizens, Mainers, people from away,” said Jim Bucar, an Alliance trustee. “He stores all their names and histories and details in his voluminous memory, ready to extract them when it would benefit the trail to reach out to them.” “
The Biddeford/Saco Chamber of Commerce honored John on January 24 with the William Kany Leadership Award. The award came with an original work of art commisioned specifically to honor the recipient. In this case, the art represents the new Route 1 footbridge and part of the trail. We’re so proud of you, John!
Background: This report provides a listing of Maine Bicycle and Pedestrian Shared Use Trails in Maine, including the Eastern Trail. This report is divided into two sections. The first section lists the bicycle and pedestrian connections that are for nonmotorized uses only. They generally have improved surfaces of either asphalt or stone dust The second section includes Shared Use Paths which also allow ATV’s. All of these trails have been built with partnerships at the local, state, and federal level. They are all open to the public and are built to connect neighborhoods, villages, business areas and towns. This report is meant to be a general outline of bicycle and pedestrian offroad opportunities in Maine.
Walking and Bicycling Trails:
Acadia Carriage Roads (Mt Desert Island)
Androscoggin River Bicycle and Pedestrian Path (Brunswick)
Auburn Riverwalk (Lewiston, Auburn)
Beth Condon Pathway (Yarmouth)
Bethel Pathway (Bethel)
Collins Pond Pathway (Caribou)
Calais Waterfront Walkway (Calais)
Eastern Trail (Kittery, Old Orchard Beach, Scarborough, South Portland)
Foundry Road Path (Livermore Falls)
Kennebec River Rail Trail (Augusta, Hallowell, Farmington, Gardiner)
At a meeting with a group of equestrians on January 11, 2012, the Eastern Trail Municipal District lifted the moratorium on horseback riding on the Kennebunk-Arundel-Biddeford section of the Eastern Trial until March 1, 2012, with the understanding that members of the local equestrian community will work with the ETMD to define, by that date, a set of rules and responsibilities to govern their use of the trail, and which they would publicize and support to ensure that the trail can be maintained for all users.
The equestrian community plans on developing rules for equestrians use of the trail to present at the next ETMD meeting on February 8th. FMI, contact the ETA by email or by phone at 207-284-9260.
by Deirdre Fleming, Portland Press Herald, December 25, 2011
[Ed.’s Note: This article describes USM Professor Richard Barringer’s tale of an outdoor funding windfall heading for Maine, one which might happen in 2012. Key Quote: “And in southern Maine this year, a windfall of bicycle and pedestrian grant cash allowed the East Coast Greenway, called the Eastern Trail here, to get a bridge over Interstate 95 in Kennebunk and another over Route 1 in Saco — nearly turning it into a contiguous off-road trail through seven urban towns.”]
Professor Richard Barringer likes to start at the beginning when he begins the tale of the outdoor funding windfall heading for Maine. But really, the good timing and hope in this story is in what could happen in 2012.
Either way, his story is one worth telling on Christmas Day.
Last year the University of Southern Maine professor handed a report he was commissioned to write by the New England governors to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar who, he said, passed it on to President Obama. And the chiefs at the helm of America’s outdoors policy liked what they saw.
Barringer’s report very closely aligned with Obama’s goals laid out in America’s Great Outdoors initiative rolled out by the president in April 2010. It highlighted seven projects around major natural corridors in New England that with relatively little funding could change the way Americans here live, work, play, recreate and relate to the environment.
These projects would fight childhood obesity, reinvest our collective passion in land, and bring nature and good health into our everyday lives.
But like a seasoned professor, Barringer takes even a bigger view of the history that could play out here.
“Let me take you back further, all the way back to 1908 when the governors of New England gathered to talk about the devastated headwaters, the logging practices,” Barringer said Thursday. “The result of that meeting was the Green Mountain and White Mountain national forests. In 2008, the New England governors memorialized that meeting and created this commission on land conservation.”
Lead Editorial Reprinted from the Journal Tribune, March 29, 2002
It’s a beautiful day. Spring is waking up the birds and trees all around us and the last patches of wet spring snow are disappearing, for now at least.
Of course this means the all-terrain vehicles are returning to our back woods and hillsides, threatening to turn both into noisy, rutted wastelands.
The reputation of ATV riders probably couldn’t be much lower than it is right now in Maine. There are reports of riders ignoring and even cutting down “no trespassing” signs, eroding stream banks and treating trails so badly that property owners kick out snowmobiles, too.
Some of the worst offenders are cutting noisily through our own back yard. The Kennebunk Plains conservation area has been damaged and Portland Natural Gas lines endangered by riders who’ve moved boulders that were supposed to block their way. In Sanford, irresponsible riders have done damage around the industrial park, despite enforcement actions police and the warden service.
A case in point: Last Sunday, a lone ATV rider shot through an intersection on Route 109 near the Center for Shopping and passed cars by traveling on the wrong side of the road, so fast that if drivers had blinked they might not have seen him.
This kind of reckless behavior endangers pedestrians, drivers and ATV riders themselves as well as harming wetlands, streams and hillsides and destroying the peace of the countryside.
It’s tempting to say we ought to get rid of them all, the way the state ordered dealers to stop selling 3-wheel ATVs in favor of more stable 4-wheelers a few years ago. But the problem is not the vehicles, and it’s not all the riders.
It’s the yahoos among them that make life difficult for all of us. Those people should lose their right to continue terrorizing us.
Police have yet to catch up with this issue even though they’ve tried, and continue to do so. Possibly more of them need to get out of their cruisers and onto ATVs of their own or other vehicles that will allow them to follow rogue riders into the woods. Maybe the minimum age for riders ought to be raised. (Ten-year-olds may ride now, within limits.) Or possibly the safety classes that are mandatory for the youngest riders should be required for all ages.
If they were generally responsible, ATV riders would have wider access to trails and fields in York County. There would be fewer barriers and “no-trespassing” signs. But that’s a big “if” at this point.
Riders need to show they’ve got the maturity to deserve something other than the yahoo label. Or they need to turn in the keys to their toys.
CAPE ELIZABETH: Bob Bowker pointed at two lighthouses that sat back from the lush vegetation some distance from the park named for them on the Cape Elizabeth peninsula.
At one time, they were used by mariners to help navigate into Portland Harbor, he explained. ”They would line up the two lights,” he said.
And just as Bowker offered this impromptu history lesson about Two Lights State Park, a motorist with a Maine license plate pulled up and asked the cyclist for directions to Portland Head Light farther up the coast.
Bowker obliged, but quickly added with a wave to Cape Elizabeth Light east and west: ”There are two lighthouses right there.”
As the creator of the Maine Lighthouse Ride, Bowker is a bit of an advocate for lighthouses. The charity ride, which will be held for the fifth year Sept. 13, winds by five lighthouses and within view of three others that sit offshore: Wood Island Light, Ram Island Ledge Light and Halfway Rock Light.
Over the years many photographs have been taken on the Eastern Trail. Links to these photos are are organized below to give you a good sense of the beauty and extent of the Eastern Trail. The links are organized by date, with the most recent photos first. Many thanks to ETA volunteer Jim Bucar for most of the photographs.
Most of the links below go to albums that have been organized by Jim. Each Album can be played as a full screen slide show (On the top right of each album page is an icon that looks like a computer with an arrow on the “screen.” Click that icon to start a full-screen slide show).
As Hurricane Dorian slid up the east coast, we considered that after 9 uninterrupted years of spendid MLR weather, we might be facing a problem. Dorian threatened Maine enough for us to limit the 16th MLR by reluctantly cancelling the most vulnerable ride— the Century. The day of the ride went off as planned, albeit with heavy clouds and windy conditions keeping riders wary. The 2019 rides albums show the day and the pleasures that riders still found in abundance. Photos in this collection by Jim Bucar (Flickr account owner). There are 7 albums to view.
A photo-feature on this site, which we call “People on the Trail.” Our great photographer and trail use photo-journalist, Jim Bucar, has been taking photos for years showing how so many people use and enjoy the trail. We are adding a new shot to this collection every so often – keep checking back!!
The sold-out 15th edition of the MLR sent 1200 riders off from SMCC’s campus under cloudy skies and returned them there after 25/40/62/and 100 miles. The sun gradually emerged, but riders enjoyed cool temperatures in the 70’s. Photos in this collection by Jim Bucar (Flickr account owner) AND Charmaine Daniels. There are 7 albums to view.
On Saturday, April 7, 2018, a remarkably diverse crowd of about 200 people gathered at Camp Ketcha in Scarborough to celebrate . . . well, a number of events and accomplishments for the Eastern Trail.
This 14th annual ride of the Eastern Trail Alliance’s lighthouse ride was held, as usual on another beautiful day on the coast of Maine, and was enjoyed by 1,200 riders and supported by our wonderfully helpful volunteers. There are 9 albums to view.
Over 120 participants gathered for a 5K Walk/Run to honor the Eastern Trail Alliance’s inspiring founding father, John Andrews.The event began and ended at O’Reilly’s Cure in Scarborough– thank you O’Reilly’s cure. John would no doubt have enjoyed the sight of so many friends and family members joining for an outing on “his” Eastern Trail.
This 13th annual ride of the Eastern Trail Alliance’s lighthouse ride was held, as usual on another beautiful day on the coast of Maine, and was enjoyed by 1,200 riders and supported by our wonderfully helpful volunteers. There are 7 albums to view.
This 12th annual ride of the Eastern Trail Alliance’s lighthouse ride was held on another beautiful day on the coast of Maine, and was enjoyed by 1,200 riders and supported by our wonderfully helpful volunteers. There are 8 albums to view.
This 11th annual ride of the Eastern Trail Alliance’s lighthouse ride was held on another beautiful day on the coast of Maine, and was enjoyed by just under 1,200 and supported by our wonderfully helpful volunteers.
This 10th annual ride of the Eastern Trail Alliance’s lighthouse ride was perhaps the best ever. Another beautiful day on the coast of Maine, perfect (!) for 1,000 riders to enjoy the sights with fellow enthusiasts, supported by wonderfully helpful volunteers. If you were among the riders or volunteers, look for yourselves and the sights you enjoyed that beautiful day.
Dignitaries joined hundreds of bridge workers, police officers, bridge advisory committee members and others in the first procession from Kittery to Portsmouth during the official opening of the Memorial Bridge on Thursday, August 8, 2013. Photo gallery by SeaCoastonline.com
In recognition of breast cancer awareness month, Southern Maine Medical Center (SMMC) held its 2nd Annual “Be Healthy” 5K Run/Walk to benefit the SMMC Center for Breast Care. The race course followed the Eastern Trail behind the Medical Center.
This 9th edition of the Eastern Trail Alliance’s annual lighthouse ride featured yet another substantial increase in ridership: about 940 riders enjoyed mostly easy routes through scenic woods and small towns, and, of course, the ride’s eponymous lighthouses that Maine is so famous for. If you missed the ride, see what you missed. If you were among the 940 riders, look for yourselves and the sights you rode by. Look for the faces, too, of the many energetic and supportive volunteers who made the whole enterprise possible.
Sponsored and organized by the ETA and ECGA, a thirty one-mile ride on the Eastern Trail from Kennebunk to Bug Light. Over 80 riders enjoyed a bright, beautiful day.
Twenty-five ambitious, warmly dressed people, teens to seniors, families and solos— all joined John Andrews for one of his monthly walks, observing the daily cycle of the sunset and the monthly arrival of the full moon. The group set out from the Pine Point parking lot and strolled through the quiet evening to the Mill Brook Crossing in OOB. The clear blue sky muted the sunset, but the moon rose big and luminous. The roundtrip of 4.4 miles took about two hours
Southern Maine Medical Center and the ETA hosted a run/walk event to benefit SMMC’s new Center for Breast Care. Bob LaNigra helped to coordinate the event, which was run on the KAB section of the trail.The off and on rain did not dampen the event or the good feelings of the participants and volunteers.
A salute to the opening of the new bridge spanning the Maine Turnpike, celebrated by about 400 students and teachers, parents, and representatives of many groups, including the Eastern Trail Alliance, the East Coast Greenway Alliance, the ETMD, the Maine Turnpike Authority, the Maine DOT. Then, led by a Scottish Piper and Miles the Moose, the whole assembly hiked to and over the bridge and witnessed the ritual ribbon cutting.
For this, the 8th annual MLR, the weather once again allowed the Maine coastline and nine lighthouse to spin their special magic for the 670 riders who participated this year– an increase of nearly 200 over 2010’s record!
An opening ceremony– thank you’s– but mostly a shared celebration of cooperative effort and accomplishment. A gateway to years of enjoyment open to anyone with appetites for the outdoors and healthy exercise.
A beautifully sunny, (not too) warm day. Over 400 bikers enjoyed rides of 25, 40, 62 (Metric Century), and 100 (Century) miles, mostly along a shoreline with blue water and skies. The rides, rarely taxing, provided constantly changing vistas and pleasures; witness the ubiquitous smiles.
This is an unsorted and unorganized show of mahy photgraphs contributed to the Flickr photo-sharing web site. We include this just to show the very many ways that many people have documented their enjoyment of the trail. Note: some of these photos are from the “Eastern Promenade Trail” in Portland, nearby but not technically a part of the Eastern Trail.
Each year we suffer 500 rail corridor trespass fatalities in these United States. According to Pamela Caldwell Foggin, Federal Railroad Administration, these fatalities do not include fatalities caused by vehicles passing rail gates, nor do these 500 fatalities include suicides.
According to Betsy Goodrich, New England Office of Rail-to-Trails Conservancy, there are 142,000 miles of active rail corridor in the United States. This means 500 fatalities per year per 142,000 miles. Or one trespass fatality for each 284 mile-years.
Using data provided by Mia Birk, senior author of Rail-with-Trails, Lessons Learned, we learn that we have 4,400 mile-years of rail-with-trail (RWT) experience in the United States.
If trails do not increase the danger, then we can expect one rail trespass fatality for every 284 miles per year, then 4,400 mile-year should result in 15 RWT trespass fatalities since the first RWT was opened. If trails increase the risk of pedestrian fatalities, then we might expect many more fatalities. Maybe a ten-fold increase or 150 fatalities in 40 years?
But, have we experienced 150 RWT fatalities? Have we experiences even 15 fatalities? No. In the entire United States, there has never been one RWT fatality.
My probability professor would not give me a failing grade, if I claimed adding trails to rail corridors reduced pedestrian fatalities by 25-to-one.
When I first looked at my math, I felt my math must be wrong. Einstein once told an acquaintance, “If your math does not match your common sense, check your math.” I’ve asked many people to check my math. Many have rejected my conclusion, but no one has questioned my math.
Assuming the conclusion it valid, or even close to reality, how do we explain it? This troubled me for months after I first ran the numbers and looked at the result. It now makes sense, at least to me.
Whenever people trespass in rail corridors, the walking is generally awful but usually easiest on the rails or rail ties. So kids walk on the rail ties or rails. College students leaving a pub may choose to walk an unlit rail corridor to return to their dorm. Hunters seeking game walk the rails. But, if a well-engineered trail existed beside the tracks, most would apparently choose the easier path. Therefore, it does make sense to me that adding a trail to a rail corridor could reduce fatalities by as much as 25-to-1.
Common wisdom in the rail industry has been that anytime a person enters a rail corridor the risk of a fatality increases. It’s obvious to experienced railroad employees that adding a trail and inviting public access should increase the fatalities. Claiming that it will save lives? Crazy! Reading Steven D. Levitt’s Freakonomics inspired me to look at existing rail fatality data. Why? Because in his book he demonstrates that common wisdom is often wrong.
Litigation?
Craig Della Penna, well known RWT advocate, asks the rhetorical question: “Could a railroad be successfully sued if it had refused to allow a RWT where subsequently a trespass fatality occurred?” A NYC attorney with railroad litigation experience is interested in the question.
Augusta – Maine is the third most bike-friendly state in the country, the League of American Bicyclists announced Wednesday. This is the second year in a row that Maine has held that ranking, based on a League survey covering legislation, enforcement, education and encouragement, policies and programs, infrastructure, evaluation and planning.
The League released the state rankings during National Bike to Work Week. The Bicycle Coalition of Maine is joining with several other organizations to host a Maine Bike to Work Day celebration on May 21 from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Lobsterman Park (corner of Temple and Spring Streets) in downtown Portland.
The League survey rated Maine first in the country in infrastructure. During the past year, Maine’s network of shared-use paths has expanded rapidly with the opening of the first sections of the Down East Sunrise Trail and the Maine Mountain Division Trail. More than 60 miles of additional shared-use paths will be built this summer as part of those two projects and the Eastern Trail in York County.
“I’m very pleased that Maine is being recognized at this level for the second year in a row, and especially pleased that the League ranked Maine number one in infrastructure,” said MaineDOT Commissioner David Cole. “We continue to make real progress on a balanced, multimodal system that will meet the varied transportation needs of Maine people.”
The Bicycle Coalition of Maine has been working since 1992 to make Maine a better place to bicycle. The coalition advocates for Maine cyclists at the Legislature and in Washington, D.C., teaches bicycle safety to thousands of Maine schoolchildren each year, partners with state agencies on a Share the Road media campaign and serves as a resource on local bicycling issues.
Pedestrians and bicyclists are welcome, but as construction wraps up on the latest section of the Eastern Trail, ATV riders are being reminded to stay off the pathway.
Reports of recent ATV use on new sections of the Eastern Trail in York County have prompted Facebook warnings and new signs on the trail to remind users that ATVs and snowmobiles aren’t allowed.
The newest section of the trail, from Saco to Old Orchard Beach, will be ready for use by mid-November.
“Snowmobiles and ATVs just gravitate to these things as a great spot to recreate. … That’s perfectly understandable,” said Bob Hamblen, vice president and treasurer of the Eastern Trail Alliance.
In fact, motor vehicles weren’t allowed on that land before it became part of the Eastern Trail.
Most of the Eastern Trail is on land owned by Unitil, which has always forbidden ATV and snowmobile use, but rarely enforced it. Most of the trail is part of the natural gas pipeline corridor and needs to be remain properly covered, Unitil spokesman Alec O’Meara said.
“ATVs can move dirt around and can create ruts. While pedestrians won’t really have an impact, ATV use can cause a maintenance issue,” O’Meara said.
And as more people are walking and biking the Eastern Trail, the ban on motorized vehicles is an increasingly important safety issue, trail backers say.
Eastern Trail officials say it’s a problem they’ve faced before.
When a new mile-and-a-half section opened in Old Orchard Beach about three years ago, it was frequently used by ATV and snowmobile riders who had been used to riding in the area.
The Alliance got help from the Old Orchard Beach Police Department and followed vehicle tracks back to individual homes to tell them they couldn’t ride on the trail. The education effort paid off, and there are few complaints today about motor vehicles using that section of trail, according to Lt. Tim Deluca.
“It was more of let’s get the message out and let the public know, educating the public it was not accessible for ATVs,” Deluca said.
The Bicycle Coalition of Maine honored John Andrews with one of their annual awards for “individuals for their work to improve bicycling in Maine.” The Biddeford/Saco Chamber of Commerce honored John with the William Kany Leadership Award.
“Andrews, a retired engineer, served as founding president of the Eastern Trail Alliance until last summer. For 15 years, he led the effort to create a multi-use trail from Kittery to South Portland. Along the way, he secured funding, convinced municipalities to work together, won support from politicians and overcame many other obstacles. The trail now extends for nearly 21 miles in southern Maine.
CAPE ELIZABETH: Bob Bowker pointed at two lighthouses that sat back from the lush vegetation some distance from the park named for them on the Cape Elizabeth peninsula.
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