The East Coast Greenway
Walkers, cyclists, and other trail advocates have joined forces around an audacious project, a 2,600-mile traffic-free path linking East Coast cities from Maine to Florida. Launched only 10 years ago, this vision for an urban alternative to the highly popular Appalachian Trail is quickly becoming a reality. The East Coast Greenway will be the nation’s first longdistance, city-to-city, multi-modal transportation corridor for cyclists, hikers, and other non-motorised users. Our goal is to connect existing and planned trails that are locally owned and managed to form a continuous, safe, green route – easily identified by the public through signage, maps, users’ guides, and common services.
The route will be at least 80 per cent off-road, using waterfront esplanades, park paths, abandoned railroads, canal towpaths, and parkway corridors. It will serve cyclists, hikers, skaters, equestrians, people in wheelchairs, and other non-motorised users. We are presently working hard to develop the entire trail from Maine to Florida.
Our route will be an urban alternative to the Appalachian Trail, located not only in the shadows of skyscrapers and within suburban greenspace, but also in surprisingly rural areas that still exist between our East Coast cities. It will enable residents to travel short distances from their homes to local points of interest, and tourists to travel for a few days or even weeks to visit the rich store of history and culture within the East Coast region. While seeking the most direct feasible route between cities, we also value a route offering an interesting, varied experience. It will link with a host of other greenways and trails being developed within the region, forming a true greenway network functioning much like the interstate highway system.