Fastfingaz

Some time last week I saw an article saying that a new bicycle trail is in progress it spans the entire East Coast, I believe from New York to Miami has anyone else heard or read something about that???

mstateglfr 

It's been in the works for years. And itll continue to be in the works for years. There will never be some formal continuous path.
it will eventually be a good collection of trails with gaps between that serve as access points.

Fastfingaz

the way I understood they've got a date of 2020?

indyfabz

No. And I find it hard to believe considering that the East Coast Greenway, which has been in development for a long time, is only 32% complete:

https://www.greenway.org/

In PA there is very little green about the ECG. South of Philadelphia it uses PA 291, which is called Industrial Highway. A fitting name if there ever was one. There is some protected riding in the city itself, but the northern portion in the city limits and the portion in Bucks County uses some very busy roads/streets.

mstateglfr 

that date is for what? Completion? Technically it's already complete.
as of 15months ago, only 1/3 of it was dedicated non motorized path. Doubt they mean 2/3 of it will be finished in only 2.5 years.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Coast_Greenway

Fastfingaz

I don't know but it got me excited,,,,, lol

Sy Reene

Seems it doomed from the get-go.. since when do most consider PA an "East Coast" state?

wschruba

Considering it's pretty hard to cycle over the Delaware bay between Lewes Point and Cape May (excepting the ferry, yes...), I'd say they get a pass there. The route turns west at Trenton and passes into PA before heading south.

Sy Reene

True.. I was thinking more that the planned route, from basically NYC to South Carolina, 95% of this span is ironically nowhere near a 'coast'.

mstateglfr 

Portland is 75mi from the coast.
Phillynis 60mi ftom the coast.

I very much consider Portland to be on the west coast.

rydabent

Never say never.

mstateglfr 

ok, ill rephrase.

I in no way expect or even hold put hope that a continuous bike path traversing the entire eastern seaboard will be built in my lifetime or after.
In my eyes, the state red tape, property rights issues, and funding all make it so unlikely to be built that it essentially never will happen.


there, i left some wiggle room for the slightest chance the near impossible can come together.

jpescatore

Luckily, there are a lot of people actually working and contributing to make the East Coast Greenway continue to get closer to reality.

It took 16 years for the Appalachian Trail to be called "completed" back in 1937 and even then lots of it was on roads and (eek) might have even had sections not technically in the "Appalachians." It was another 40 years before the AT was completely off of roads. Now it is in constant use by an increasing number of through hikers - took a lot of work and contributions to reach that point.

indyfabz

For a long time. In the east, actually bordering the ocean is not a requirement.

thumpism 

We have a section of the Greenway posted here in town.

BirdsBikeBinocs

Um, NY to Miami is NOT the entire east coast.

mstateglfr 

It spans from Calais Maine to Key West FL

Fastfingaz

thanks for your observation Bird,,,,,, why don't you list them all from North to South,,,,, so there won't be anymore confusion,,,,,,

BirdsBikeBinocs

Well, I can list the states you left out...

Maine
New Hampshire
Massachusetts
Rhode Island
Connecticut

Fastfingaz

Boy y'all are some real Fart smellers,,, I mean smart fellas,,, lol

KraneXL

It sounds good but if it develops it would likely be tacked on to something that already exists such as Interstate 95. That would be better than a stand alone trail since its would be less likely to be forgotten as most bike trails typically are. What would really be great would be a span all the way to Key West. Its one of the nations most beautiful motorist routes, and would be an ever more beautiful bike trail.

Speaking of Florida, it was suppose to be the state with the nation's first high-speed rail system and bike routes/trail have always followed rail systems -- or at least used the abandoned ones as a jumping off point.

Anyway, this nation is in desperate need of a modernized cross country road system. Maybe it that ever comes to fruition, cyclist won't get left out this time.

Fastfingaz

well yes in the plan it was always considered that the cyclists would have to get off the trail and us existing roadways for a bit and get back on the trail, and if they do make it Florida I'm sure the Keys would be included ,

Rajflyboy

Fastfingaz

l agree,,,,, but the post got 24 responses and used up about An hour of my day,,, ride on

dwolsten

Don't forgot all the politically-active people who are completely opposed to bike trails and do everything they can to shut down these projects. There's a rail-trail not too far from me called the Dahlgren Heritage RT which had that problem: all the property owners whose land abutted the trail got active in local politics to try to close off access to the trail.