Eastern Trail

What communities will the Eastern Trail go through?

"From the south, the trail starts in Kittery and goes through Eliot, South and North Berwick, Wells, Kennebunk, Arundel, Biddeford, Saco, Old Orchard Beach, Scarborough, and South Portland, where it ends."

Is it possible to ride the trail now?

"It is and it isn’t. You have to envision the trail as two trails actually — one that is off-road and one that is on-road. The on-road portion, obviously, is already in existence and we are working on the off-road portion.

"Eventually the two will intertwine and people using the trails will be able to take one or the other or switch back-and-forth."

Have you taken your bike on the trail yet?

"I’ve taken it on some of the finished off-road portions and, last week I road the on-road
portion."

How long did it take?

"It was funny. I started out Saturday morning [on Oct. 6] and there were flurries down in
Portsmouth. I thought I’d go an hour or two before taking a break, but the weather cleared up nicely. I rode straight through from 7 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. "What I’d love to see in the future is people taking their bikes on the train from Boston to Portland once they get Amtrak here and then have those people biking back. It would really be a boon to the tourist industry. . . . And, what’s to stop people from Maine from going to Boston and biking back here."

Clearly, the trails will benefit those who use them for recreational purposes. But, how do you believe the trails will benefit communities in general?

"First, the health benefits to the users of the trails benefit communities in general. Governor Angus King recently said that, if everyone in Maine exercised for 20 minutes a day three times a week, then the annual savings in health care costs to the state would exceed Maine’s annual revenue from the sales tax. So, in that respect, the trails’ users will be doing their part in reducing the state’s health care costs.

"Second, the property values of residences seem to increase when trails are built nearby. I was recently at the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy Conference in St. Louis, Mo. and the general consensus there was that property values of
residences located near trails similar to the ones we’re building increase by 5-10 percent after the trails are built.

"Third, I believe that trails help democracy. People commute to work in a windshield-to-windshield world and when they get to their offices they’re often stuck inside a cubicle all day. Consequently, they have little communication with people and become alienated.

"When you’re on a trail, it’s all right to talk to strangers. In fact, it’s normal. And, when people meet, they exchange ideas and opinions. That is what democracy is about. It’s about people and how they interact. And, the more interaction there is, the better it is for the community."

The word "alliance" in the Eastern Trail Alliance implies that your group is composed of various entities. How is your group composed?

"Well, I am the president and we have a board composed of volunteers from all walks of life. Without whose help, I might add, we would never have got to where we are today. And the word "alliance" is one we take seriously. "We consider our group to be an alliance because we want everybody to be able to use the trails. We work with equestrians, hikers — you name it. We don’t want anyone to feel excluded."

What are some of the things the Eastern Trail Alliance has achieved so far?

"Our biggest victory came in February when the Maine Department of Transportation (MDOT) awarded us $1,340,000 for Eastern Trail construction. I really didn’t expect to receive that much money. The MDOT had only $5,000,000 to give and I thought we would be lucky to receive anything. We were the largest recipient of funds
so we were really proud. Gov. King, who presented us with the award, also said that he was recommending an additional $750,000 in MDOT’s fall bond issue.

"A smaller victory, but a victory no less, involved a seemingly impassable stream called Thatcher Brook in Biddeford. For us, building a bridge would have been quite expensive. But, developer Mike Eon from Saco and Guy Cassavants, the Public Works director in Biddeford, needed to run a sewer pipe over the brook to Saco’s industrial park. They offered to build a bridge along with the sewer pipe and thereby solved our problem.

"We’ve also had land donated to us by Verizon Communications and we’ve had 12 municipal governments pledge to oversee our trails. Really, we’ve had a lot of victories."

When do you expect to have the Eastern Trail completed?

"Right now, as I said earlier, the on-road portion is ready for use. The off-road portion could take up to 15 years depending on funding. We have to make the trails passable and build nine major bridges. But, I’m an optimist, and I think there’s a great chance that the off-road section of the Eastern Trail will be done by 2006 if everything falls into place."

For those interested in finding out more about the Eastern Trail Alliance, visit the Alliance’s website at www.EasternTrail.org. 

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