The latest news about Maine lakes and ponds.

The Mountain Division Alliance Racks up More Trail Miles

October 29, 2008 - FRYEBURG — Interconnected off-road trails are the stuff of dreams in Maine.

In Fryeburg, a big off-road trail is a year away from reality. And for Dave Kinsman, president of the Mountain Division Alliance, it's just a start.

The Maine Department of Transportation plans to spend as much as $1.4 million to fund 4.5 miles of the Maine Mountain Division rail with trail in Fryeburg, said Dan Stewart, the department's pedestrian and bicycle coordinator.

The 51-mile Maine Mountain Division Trail that runs from Portland up to and across New Hampshire has been a vision for the past 10 years. The trail, which puts pedestrians in the woods but not too far from the nine towns along the rail line in Maine, got its start after the department began purchasing the line in 1997. Today the department owns 45 miles of the line.

The alliance has worked on making it a bicycle and pedestrian corridor, and has upgraded a total of 5.5 miles -- so far.

It's all an exciting prospect for the folks at Portland Trails, who are spearheading a push for the national "Active Transportation" movement to grab hold in Maine.

The national nonprofit Rails-to-Trails Conservancy is lobbying grassroots trail organizations around the country to help cheer on the "Active Transportation" trend and lobby for federal money that would create more pedestrian and bicycle pathways into major cities.

Nan Cumming, executive director of Portland Trails, said Portland could stand to gain as much as $50 million if Congress approves federal transportation money for projects across the country for use starting in 2010. Major off-road arteries leading bicycling suburbanites into the Old Port could be built by 2014, she said.

But even if the movement doesn't catch hold in Congress and gain substantial funding in the next transportation bill, Portland Trails will keep pushing ahead and expanding its vast network of off-road trails, Cumming said. In the process, it will hopefully help bicyclists in surrounding areas find safe routes onto the peninsula.

"It's envisioned as a transportation project, to get us off our dependence on foreign oil and shift the way Americans travel, especially in urban areas," Cumming said. "The tie to the Mountain Division is a good connection (into) Portland. That connection is very much a part of the Active Transportation project, helping to get people in and out of Portland, mostly by bike. It would be a huge accomplishment, and help relieve traffic congestion."

Cumming said there may be other off-road trails that can be built into Portland quicker than the Maine Mountain Division Trail. But, she added, Portland Trails will not abandon its effort to help the Mountain Division Trail.

"We want to make sure people can get into Portland (safely by bike)," she said. "If it takes longer to develop that rail link, we'll keep working on it, but we still want to get people into the city. So we are also working on the other trails."

The next section of the Maine Mountain Division Trail that will be upgraded is located 50 miles from Portland, at the foothills of the White Mountains. By this time next year, an almost 5-mile stretch out of Fryeburg will be made bike-friendly.

It starts at the Fryeburg Visitor Center, which was built along the rail line in the past year on Route 302. With views of farm fields across the Saco River, it runs into the woods behind the town.

As the back of stores disappear and the town's original train depot fades from sight, the rail line runs along a small tributary of Lovewell Pond not far away. Buck tracks are thick in the dirt here, and moose signs would not be a surprise.

"I have them in my backyard," Kinsman said.

In the thick woods beside the train track, the foliage dresses up the mountain region and makes sounds of traffic less obvious.

The idea that this trail could run through heavy suburbs and even down to Commercial Street in Portland seems far-fetched while walking along the country path next to the New Hampshire border.

Yet Kinsman, a former owner of a bike parts distributing company who makes it his business to travel bike paths across the Northeast, said it's all within reach.

"There are 3,000 miles of rails with trails across the country, and they get a lot of use," Kinsman said. "I rode the Pine Creek Trail, which is 60 miles in Pennsylvania, recently. The largest town along it is the size of Brownfield (population 34,483). It gets 200,000 visitors a year, and brings in $5 million to the local economy."

A longtime member of bike advocacy organizations, Kinsman said the Mountain Division Trail has been a long time in the works -- but he feels it is finally gaining momentum with the Fryeburg stretch.

"I think people in Conway would be interested to see it stretch to North Conway. It could connect the White Mountains with Portland," Kinsman said. "I would like to be able to ride my bike to Portland."

By DEIRDRE FLEMING Staff Writer, Portland Press Herald, October 23, 2008


Lakes: Lovewell Pond
Regions: Sebago


Print this story

Email this story

return to Lake News