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The goal is a 3,000-mile bike and walking trail safe from vehicles, but only a third of it is off-road so far.

BY DICK WOODBURY – SPECIAL TO THE PRESS HERALD (Dick Woodbury, a resident of Yarmouth, served 10 years in the Maine Legislature and is on the board of the East Coast Greenway Alliance). Posted August 21, 2018.

YARMOUTH — My biking adventure began in Calais, just this side of the St. Croix river from Canada. Calais is at the northern tip of the East Coast Greenway. From there, I biked the Greenway corridor through Machias, Ellsworth, Bangor, Waterville, Augusta, Lewiston, Brunswick, Portland, Saco, Biddeford, and Kittery; and on through New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and into Connecticut. My wife, Debbie, and son Sam joined me for much of this journey.

The vision of the Greenway is a 3,000-mile bike and walking trail, safe from cars, that connects urban centers from the top of Maine to the bottom of Florida. Think Appalachian Trail, but accessible for everyday biking and walking, as well as longer treks, and positioned where people live, running deliberately through population centers in the 16 East Coast states.

After Maine, the East Coast Greenway continues through Portsmouth, Boston, Worcester, Providence, Hartford, New Haven, New York City, and on through Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, Richmond, Raleigh-Durham, Charleston, Savannah, Jacksonville and Miami, finishing at the bottom tip of the Florida Keys.

I love the vision of the East Coast Greenway for its health, recreation, transportation, commuting, environmental, economic and lifestyle impacts.

I refer to it as the “vision” of the East Coast Greenway because it is just 32 percent completed so far, meaning that 32 percent of it is fully constructed off-road trail, while the remaining 68 percent is temporarily on-road, while new off-road segments are gradually added and interconnected over time. Of the 569 miles I rode, 204 miles were on off-road trails.

Every one of the off-road segments I rode was wonderful. The 87-mile Downeast Sunrise Trail passes through forests, small towns and national wildlife lands from its southern gateway in Ellsworth. The Kennebec River Rail Trail weaves along the river, connecting downtown Augusta with Hallowell, Farmingdale and Gardiner. The Eastern Trail has 22 off-road miles from South Portland through Scarborough, Saco, Biddeford, Arundel and Kennebunk.

Read the entire article online here.

The very successful (and fun!) 2nd Annual John R. Andrews Memorial 5k race showed up in the news again last week.

There were two separate articles – Check them out:

Gap Band – the Scarborough Leader online

People & Business: July 18- The Forecaster online

This is in addition to the other earlier news coverage about the event that we listed on this page, and also on our Facebook page.

[Ed. note:Maggie Warren, Trustee Emeritus for the Eastern Trail Alliance, submitted this Letter to the Editor to the Portland Press Herald in response to its recent article (June 6) “Downeaster rail pass offers low-cost service between 6 stations in Maine”]

Natalie Bogart, Downeaster marketing director, is on the right track (no pun intended) with the Discover Maine Rail Pass, but her group has totally failed to consider a very important customer base that would use this pass: Bicyclists!

Years ago, when the Downeaster began running, there was a baggage car that accommodated bikes, strollers, camping gear – anything that a customer brought on board.

Boston, Wells, Portland and Old Orchard Beach in season were stations for loading and unloading from this car. A group from the Eastern Trail Alliance put our bikes on board in Portland, got off in Wells and rode the Eastern Trail back to Portland. The possibilities are endless.

Maine tourism would benefit greatly (as would the Downeaster) with cooperation and inclusion of bicyclists in their marketing strategy.

We can’t all walk long distances from the station to a downtown or an attraction, and we don’t want to rent a car upon arrival. We want to get on our bikes and Discover Maine. Help us!

Maggie Warren

Hallowell

Read the Letter to the Editor online at the Portland Press Herald website.

There will be two Full Moon Walks on The Eastern Trail on Tues, May 29- walks will take place in Scarborough and Biddeford.

The forecast is for clear skies and warm termperature.  See you on the trail!

• ET Full Moon Walk, 8-9:30 pm Scarborough – Eastern Trail Parking lot – Scarborough Marsh (map). Join our Eastern Trail Director, Carole Brush, to watch the moon rise over the marsh, look for animals, learn about the trail, enjoy conversation and walk in the light of the full moon. Leave your devices behind and enjoy the peace of the trail. FMI please call 207-284-9260 
• ET Full Moon Walk, 8-9:30 pm Biddeford – Southern Maine Health Care, 1 Medical Center Drive (map). These walks meet at the rear of the Southern Maine Health Care parking lot. Leave your electronics behind for a while and join us for a walk under the moon. No flashlights or pets please.
• Read about the Full Moon names and meanings here.

Five small news articles (each with a picture) in the Scarborough Leader provided excellent news coverage of the 2nd Annual John R. Andrews Memorial 5k race.

Check them out:

Trail Bound  

Family Time  

Chip Time  

Stop Here  

And the winner is …

And some other coverage of the race is listed below:

Results from the John Andrews Memorial 5k can be found here.

Pictures of all the fun are on our Facebook page.

Don’t put your running shoes away just yet! We hope you will join us at
our Mend the Gap 10k on Sunday, July 1 at 8 am in Scarborough. More information here.