Eastern Trail

Eastern Trail Signs: Pointing the Way to a Great Trail!

Since this summer of 2002, real signs of progress have appeared, pointing to a great trail resource in southern Maine.

New directional signs have been put into place along the Eastern Trail On-Road Eastern Trail route.  How these signs have been developed, and the many Eastern Trail supporters who have worked to put these signs in place, is a great story.

Sign Design:  The design of this new ET sign was indeed a team effort.  Lead by ETA President John Andrews, the team included ETA Outings Chair Ethan Davis who led the ETA fund raising, John Balicki of the Maine Department of Transportation, Becka Roolf (who most recently led the Alliance for Transportation Choice), and Tony Barrett, Maine's trustee to the East Coast Greenway Alliance.  Careful attention to detail was required to establish a clear and unique "look" for the new ET signs, and to coordinate with existing DOT sign standards. If there were an East Coast Greenway standard sign, it would have influenced the design. So far there is no standard on road sign agreed on by all 13 states of the East Coast Greenway. 

Funding Support:  As of October 208 signs have been put into place along the route, and 14 spares have been purchased.

Most of the funds for ET signs came from two sources: 

• The Davis Conservation Foundation granted $5,000 to purchase and install new ET signs.  Ethan Davis & Marie O'Brian created and submitted the grant application for the ETA; and

• The Maine Department of Transportation

Sign Posts:  There is a Maine Department of Transportation standard for wooden posts that support highway signs.  Unfortunately, the usual supplier of wooden posts that meet this standard, was out of stock.  The problem was solved by C.D. Armstrong, who is a strong ET supporter and also president of Friends of Scarborough Marsh. More importantly for this challenge, Mr. Armstrong is president of Deering Lumber.  He quoted a price below his competitors and made the delivery in less than a week. 

Installation: The Department of Public Works for the city of Saco served as a short-term storage depot for distribution to the other corridor public works departments. Most of the corridor towns agreed to ask their public works departments to install the signs at the recommended locations. ETA Trustees Pam Partow, Ethan Davis, and John Andrews worked with MODT's John Balicki to determine the most critical places along the on-road trail to locate the signs.

Navigating the On-Road Eastern Trail: The signs are already making a big difference in following the otherwise unmarked On-Road Eastern Trail. Users are encouraged to download the ETA's On-Road trail guide that includes maps (additional maps are available here), or to download the MDOT text description from  http://www.state.me.us/mdot/biketours.htm. 

To stay within budget, only the more critical locations along the trail have 
signs. If a sign is damaged or missing, or not yet installed, the printed 
material will be even more important. Your comments on the signs and the 
on-road trail guide will be appreciated. Send them to Info@EasternTrail.Org. 

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