Daily: October 8, 2022

PORTLAND (WGME) – Maine’s Eastern Trail system is getting some national recognition.

Friday, Rails to Trails Conservancy, the nation’s largest trail advocacy organization, welcomed Maine’s Eastern Trail into the “Rail Trail Hall of Fame.”

According to an economic impact study, the trail brings more than $44 million into Maine’s economy each year and employs more than 300 people around the state.

“This is something that people can use to commute to work on, to run errands on and to have an option to be mobile without having to rely on a car or to put themselves out on one of our busy streets on a bicycle,” James Tasse of the Bicycle Coalition of Maine said.

The Eastern Trail is more than 65 miles long, running from Kittery to South Portland, and 16 additional miles are under construction.

You can read the story with video online here.

You can view related news coverage of the Hall of Fame Induction ceremony:

• Eastern Trail inducted into Rails-to-Trails Conservancy Hall of Fame (Portland Press Herald)
• Southern Maine trail inducted into hall of fame (WCSH NewsCenter Maine)
• Maine’s Premiere Trail Being Inducted into the United States Rail Trail Hall of Fame (WOKQ 97.5)
• Southern Maine rail trail inducted into national group’s hall of fame (Maine Public Radio)