Bike ride to promote Greenway trail project

PORTLAND – A Friendship man is training for a marathon bike ride that starts next week in eastern Maine and finishes in Washington, D.C.

Leonard Jahnke, 65, plans to ride 50 miles a day as lead rider in a long-distance event aimed at promoting the completion of the East Coast Greenway, a 2,600-mile trail to extend from Calais to Key West, Fla.

About 20 percent of the path has been completed since the East Coast Greenway Alliance was formed in 1991 by bikers, walkers and joggers who saw a need to connect existing trails along the coast.

Another 30 percent is in various stages of construction or planning, said Tony Barrett of Harpswell, state coordinator for the event that’s called “Taking the Message to Washington, D.C.”

The trail is to include 327 miles in Maine, about 29 miles of which have been completed in Calais, Augusta, Hallowell, Brunswick, Yarmouth, Portland, South Portland and Saco.

The Greenway is composed of sections that are being developed with the help and cooperation of towns and cities along the way.

The completed portions include a bike path in Brunswick. The path is mostly federally funded, with towns along its route providing about 20 percent in matching funding.

Jahnke’s bike ride is designed to help publicize the need for funding. He will be joined along the way by people who will bike or walk or jog alongside him for as long as they wish.

So far, the government has spent about $400 million developing the path. It costs about $1 million a mile to build it.

It’s a bargain compared to the costs of building highways, Barrett said.

Greenway promoters will deliver letters to members of Congress from people who want the government to continue funding the path.

“Our message is, these trails are important for transportation, for livable communities, for providing safe routes to get our kids to school and playgrounds, and for health,” Barrett said.