Eastern Trail

FEATURES OF THE PROPOSED EASTERN TRAIL

No doubt the best details of the features of the Eastern Trail are to be found in the final Eastern Trail Engineering Feasibility Study: Final Report by Wilbur Smith Associates; Terrence J. DeWan & Associates, which is available for viewing here.

Click on any of these features topics to go to that section of this page:
SIGNS    |     BLAZES    |     BRIDGES    |     MAPS

SIGNS: The On-Road Eastern Trail Signs were put up during the summer of 2002!  Click on the image to the right, or click here, for more information on these great signs!

We will continue to explore designs and standards for future signs along the trail.  Click here to see a photo of a typical Saco Bay Trails sign kiosk, one alternative sign design. There's also lots of work going on to define signage for Portland Trails (their yellow signs are shown in the photo to right) and for the East Coast Greenway. An extensive sign resource is the National Park Service Sign Manual.

BLAZES are smaller signs that will also help to mark the developed trail. Click here to see a photo of the East Coast Greenway blaze (also appears to right) on the Portland-So. Portland bridge, on a portion of the trail approved by the East Coast Greenway Alliance.

Click here to view a 2/28/2003 ECGA memo (in MS Word format) on issues around the updating of the East Coast Greenway signs and trail markers.  An older resource is a paper prepared by Tony Barrett with recommendations about blazes for the ECGA - click here to view (this is in PDF format, which requires a viewer. This viewer can be obtained/downloaded for free here.)

BRIDGES are needed over the many roads, rivers and streams that the Eastern Trail Crosses. Click here to see a photo of a bridge built for the East Coast Greenway.

MAPS:  The Eastern Trail Alliance is in the process of developing detailed maps on each section of the proposed trail.  Click here to see current available maps.

ET MAP RESOURCE:  The On-Road Trail Guide for the Eastern Trail (regularly revised and improved)!         Click here to view this Guide

In addition, another map of the overall proposed trail location is provided below for you.

This map provides a very rough and approximate proposed location for the 62 mile Eastern Trail, running from Kittery to South Portland.  An engineering study, together with a series of public hearings, will be conducted in 1999 to determine best route options along the entire length of that trail.   At that time, alternative trail locations will be analyzed in relation to such elements as cost to build, and trail functionality.

Along the way, the Eastern Trail crosses 12 towns and cities in southern Maine.  After crosses into Maine at Kittery, the trail continues north through Eliot, South Berwick, North Berwick, Wells, Kennebunk, Arundel, Biddeford, Saco, Old Orchard Beach, and Scarborough.  It finally ends in South Portland.

The route which starts (or ends) at Bug Light Park on Casco Bay crosses South Portland on already complete sections of South Portland's Greenway. The Eastern Trail crosses Scarborough Marsh just east of the Maine Audubon nature center. It crosses the Cascade Road a few hundred feet from Cascade Falls. The route continues through Saco, Biddeford, and Arundel. In Kennebunk the Eastern Trail is cut by the Maine Turnpike just east of the Kennebunk rest area. The Eastern Trail Alliance is working with the Turnpike Authority to seek a solution perhaps one similar to the Appalachian Trail overpass on the Massachusetts Turnpike, or perhaps a bike path to reach the Route 35 overpass. The ET continues across the western edge of Wells into North Berwick and South Berwick, then into Eliot and on paved roads through Kittery before it crosses into Portsmouth.

Call us (207.284.9260) or e-mail the ETA office