March 2013 – The Eastern Trail

ETA Press Releases

March 21, 20130

Presentation About the Eastern Trail in North Berwick

Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:Deborah Erickson-Irons, ETA
Board Member, 207-351-2659; email.

Presentation About the Eastern Trail Scheduled in North Berwick

March 14, 2013

An informational presentation, “The Eastern Trail: A Trail and a Vision” will be held on Tuesday, March 26, 2013, 7 PM, at the North Berwick Community Center, 264 Lebanon Road, North Berwick. Anyone interested in learning about the Eastern Trail, is invited to attend.

Have you driven I-95 through Kennebunk and seen the beautiful span over the highway that is part of the Eastern Trail? The off-road Eastern Trail currently ends at the Kennebunk Elementary school, but the vision of trail enthusiasts in Southern Maine, is for the off-road trail to continue through Wells, North Berwick, South Berwick, Eliot, and Kittery. The Eastern Trail Alliance is the focused effort to vision, build, promote and use the trail. The Alliance includes many supporters from throughout Southern Maine, hikers, bikers, X-country skiers, birders, and other outdoor enthusiasts, dedicated to creating, enjoying and maintaining the Eastern Trail.

Panel presenters on March 26 will share the history of building the off-road Eastern Trail, future plans for the trail, reasons to support the trail, and answer your questions regarding the project. Presenters will include Eastern Trail Management District President and Arundel Town Planner, Tad Redway; Eastern Trail Alliance and Saco City Planner, President Bob Hamblen; and Choose To Be Healthy Coalition Director, Deborah Erickson-Irons. Coffee, juice and small desserts will be served.

The Eastern Trail is a 65 mile section of the East Coast Greenway, a transportation-recreation greenway connecting South Portland to Kittery. The scenic on-road trail mostly follows quiet country roads. Bike riders, walkers, and hikers can enjoy beautiful outdoor experiences from South Portland’s Bug Light Park on Casco Bay (near Portland) to Kittery’s Piscataqua River. In addition to the on-road trail, the Eastern Trail has the growing length of off-road sections. For more information about the trail and about the meeting, please go to www.easterntrail.org, call the Eastern Trail Alliance office at 207-284-9260, or call Deborah Erickson-Irons at 207-351-2659.

Archived News

March 20, 20130

North Berwick to host community forum on the Eastern Trail

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

NORTH BERWICK, Maine — An informational presentation, “The Eastern Trail: A Trail and a Vision” will be held at 7 pm on Tuesday, March 26 at the North Berwick Community Center, 264 Lebanon Road in North Berwick. Anyone interested in learning about the Eastern Trail is invited to attend.

Have you driven I-95 through Kennebunk and seen the beautiful span over the highway that is part of the Eastern Trail? The off-road Eastern Trail currently ends at the Kennebunk Elementary school, but the vision of trail enthusiasts in southern Maine is for the off-road trail to continue through Wells, North Berwick, South Berwick, Eliot, and Kittery.

The Eastern Trail Alliance is the focused effort to vision, build, promote and use the trail. The Alliance includes many supporters from throughout southern Maine, hikers, bikers, X-country skiers, birders, and other outdoor enthusiasts dedicated to creating, enjoying and maintaining the Eastern Trail.

Panel presenters on March 26 will share the history of building the off-road Eastern Trail, future plans for the trail, reasons to support the trail, and answer your questions regarding the project. Presenters will include Eastern Trail Management District President and Arundel Town Planner Tad Redway; Eastern Trail Alliance President and Saco City Planner Bob Hamblen; and Choose To Be Healthy Coalition Director Deborah Erickson-Irons. Coffee, juice and small desserts will be served.

— About the Eastern Trail —
The Eastern Trail is a 65 mile section of the East Coast Greenway, a transportation-recreation greenway connecting South Portland to Kittery. The scenic on-road trail mostly follows quiet country roads. Bike riders, walkers, and hikers can enjoy outdoor experiences from South Portland’s Bug Light Park on Casco Bay (near Portland) to Kittery’s Piscataqua River. In addition to the on-road trail, the Eastern Trail has the growing length of off-road sections.

For more information about the trail and about the meeting, please go to www.easterntrail.org, call The Eastern Trail Alliance office at 207-284-9260, or call Deborah Erickson-Irons at 207-351-2659.

Archived News

March 18, 20130

Eastern Trail Informational Meeting – North Berwick, March 26, 2013

EASTERN TRAIL INFORMATIONAL MEETING

Held Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Included a slide show covering Vision, Successes, and Challenges

And an Eastern Trail Experts Panel:
Eastern Trail Founder, President Emeritus John Andrews
Eastern Trail Alliance President Bob Hamblen, Saco Planner
Eastern Trail Management District President Tad Redway, Arundel Planner

Why was this meeting held in North Berwick, a town that has not supported the ET for ten years? Last year, Kennebunk and Wells asked Maine DOT to fund a final design, ready-to-bid, package for the ET from the end of the off-road section in Kennebunk all the way south as far as their towns allow. That would have meant ending at Perry Oliver Road in Wells. MDOT’s informal response has been that the ET must provide connectivity between major locations. In other words, if the design and construction does not extend all the way to Pratt-Whitney in North Berwick, the project is not fundable.

Some possible outcomes from the meeting:

Convince NB to return to ET support.
Convince MDOT that because NB will never support the ET, that another non-NB option must be accepted.
End the off-road ET in Kennebunk.

Click here to read a news article about this meeting (3/19, Foster’s Online). Click here to read another news article about this meeting (Kennebunk Post). Click here to view a video of the meeting.

Click here to view a document that described route options through North Berwick, and includes color maps(this is a large pdf file, it may take some time to download).