Eastern Trail
News

August 2005 EASTERN TRAIL NEWS

In this ETA news summary (click on any of the stories below to read, or just scroll down through this page) :
- ETA's annual 8-Lighthouse Fundraiser Ride Saturday 17 September 
- Congress awards $1 Million in ET Construction funds we're getting closer! 
- Late Summer Rides & Walks there's still plenty of time to enjoy the fine weather. 
- DeLorme Puts ET on the Map ETA's request yields greater trail visibility. 
- More East Coast Greenway Thru Riders catch the news of two pairs of riders who passed through Maine this summer. 
- Temporary Marsh ET Closing - Monday, August 29 - Friday, Sept. 2 Gas company maintenance 
- Federal Railroad Administration Wonders: Can Trails make rail corridors safer? 
- ETA Operating Funds Update reported shortfall brought some relief from Alliance members (thank you!) , but ETA is still in need of additional financial resources. 
- Trails for a Healthy Maine Bond despite 170 organizations and town government's endorsement of the $10 million trail bond, a disappointing political compromise. 

8-Lighthouse Fundraiser Ride Saturday 17 September 
Enjoy 8 historic lighthouses, 5 beautiful beaches, 2 museums, spectacular Maine coastline. Choose from: a 12-mile guided family ride (sorry only 2 lighthouses), a 35-mile guided ride with maps provided, or a 75-mile self-guided ride with maps provided. It all starts from Bug Light Park on Casco Bay in South Portland. 75-mile ride crosses Scarborough Marsh on the way to Biddeford Pool. FREE 8-lighthouse T-shirt included with registration. Rest stops with refreshments. Pre-register for lower registration fee. See www.easterntrail.org/lthouse05.html, or call 284-9260. 

Ask your company if it will pay half your registration fee. One ET Management District town will pay half the cost of any employee's registration. Ask your employer to support your ride for greater employee wellness and to help the Eastern Trail.. 

Eastern Trail Construction Funds 
Thank you, Congressman Allen! Thank you Senator Snowe! Thank you Senator Collins! Thank you for including $1,000,000 for Eastern Trail construction in the new federal Transportation Bill. After eleven extensions and more than three years of debate, the law called SAFETEA-LU provides $1 million in earmarked funds for ET construction to connect Southern Maine Medical Center in Biddeford to Alfred Road (Cumming's market) in West Kennebunk. 

Earlier this year Governor Baldacci announced $375,000 in additional state and funds to augment these expected federal funds. Maine Turnpike Authority's long-range plans include a dedicated ET bridged over the turnpike just north of the Kennebunk rest area. The turnpike bridge will be built at the same time the ET to the north and south are being built. All that remains is detailed design & planning and - a gas company easement. 

If you can dream it, you can do it. 
Walt Disney 

Rides & Walks 

ET On the Map 
DeLorme added the historic Eastern RR corridor in the latest edition of its Maine Gazetteer. DeLorme did this at the request of the ETA and with significant GIS mapping support from Wells National Estuarine Research Center. The proposed Off-Road ET is labeled "Old rail bed". The corridor route can be traced from the Fore River in South Portland to Rt. 236 in South Berwick. 

More East Coast Greenway Thru Riders 
To catch the news of two pairs of riders who passed through Maine this summer. Check: http://cyclethegreenway.com/index.php for Will Hilton's story to be published in GQ magazine. From his Web site, "Okay, I'm ready to move here. The only thing better than riding through Maine would be living here - and riding all the time. The gentle rolling hills, the never-ending lakes, the cozy little houses everywhere you look. As soon as they figure out how to make the summer last all year, count me in." 

A few days after Will's team passed through Maine, we met Faith and Peter Vicinanza, who spent 100 days biking the ECG. We met and stayed in the same B&B in East Machias where we shared stories, dinner and breakfast. For more see: http://faithandpeter.blogs.com/. Both are professional computer programmers who carried a PC with three software mapping packages, and camera and GPS interfaces. Traditions in Saco is listed as one of their top ten East Coast restaurants. 

Temporary Marsh ET Closing - Monday, August 29 - Friday, Sept. 2 
Please be advised that GSGT is doing work between Cascade Road in OOB and Scarborough Public Works. Two locations are impacting the Scarborough Marsh section of trail: 1. Behind public works a new valve station is being installed; access of the trail by the public is being maintained at most times; 2. Just north of the Dunstan Bridge GSGT will need to excavate a trench across the entire trail; therefore, the trail will be closed. GSGT estimates that work will take 5 days beginning Monday, August 29 - Friday, Sept. 2; keep in mind that inclement weather may effect this schedule. The public may continue to access the trail from Pine Point to the Bridge and then from Black Point to about 3/4 of the way to the bridge. 

Trails make Rail Corridors Safer 
Federal Railroad Administration is looking at ETA's analysis that trails along rail corridors reduce fatalities to less than 10% of rail corridors without trails. With 500 rail trespass fatalities annually, its interest is not surprising. Only one fatality on all U.S. rails-with-trails. That someone in Alaska illegally trying to hop a freight. 

Eastern Trail Alliance Funding Update 
Last month we reported ETA operating funds are hurting. We reported ETA was unable to pay its dues to the Eastern Trail Management District and also keep the ETA office open. Long-time members had been drifting away, almost as if the Scarborough Marsh trail opening meant the fight was over. Not true! 

Since reporting the problem, several lost ETA members returned. Many generous individuals joined the Alliance for the first time. The Jupiter Blues fundraiser added more than $600 to operating funds. Management District trustees voted to allow the Alliance to spread its payment out as we struggle to improve cash flow. THANKS to all of you who re-joined, or joined. (No. Those federal funds CANNOT, and should not, be allowed to pay ETA's operating expenses. That's our job. Yours and mine.) 

Trails for a Healthy Maine Bond Not so good 
According to Speaker of the House John Richardson, the Trails for a Healthy Maine (THM) Bond was in the legislative bond package until the last day, when it was removed in a political compromise to cut bonding to $83 million. The Speaker gave us this insight during a one-hour meeting to help plan future THM Bond campaigns. The high point this year was the 11-to-2 vote of the Joint Legislative Transportation Committee recommending passage of a $5 million THM bond. In the process more than 170 organizations and town governments endorsed the requested $10 million trail bond. 

Disappointing funding news: 
SAFETEA-LU included safe routes to school funds. The day Congress approved those funds, Maine Legislature, without knowledge of Washington progress, removed Maine's safe routes to school matching funds. 

"You see things; and say 'Why?' But I dream things that never were and say, 'Why not'" 
G. B. Shaw 

"Perseverance and spirit have done wonders in all ages." 
George Washington 

Nothing happens unless first a dream - Carl Sandburg

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