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Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Plans to replace inactive rail tracks with pedestrian trails approved by Legislature
An overview of the Berlin Subdivision Rail Corridor, which runs along a state-owned corridor through eight towns, including Portland, Falmouth, Cumberland, Yarmouth, North Yarmouth, Pownal, New Gloucester, and Auburn. (Image via Maine DOT) Maine lawmakers passed two bills that will pave the way for the state to develop defunct rail lines into trails for walking, biking and more. On Tuesday, the House of Representatives voted 118-26 to pass LD 30, which will replace inactive railroad tracks between Portland and Auburn with a multi-use pedestrian trail. A similar bill (LD 29) to convert tracks between Brunswick and Gardiner, as well as a portion between Pembroke and Calais in the Downeast region, into a trail also passed 116-26. The Senate approved the proposals earlier this month but on Wednesday the upper chamber placed both bills on the special highway table, which is where bills not provided for in the budget are placed to be considered for remaining highway fund allocations. Both proposals will require money, but the fiscal notes do not specify an amount. Rather, they direct the Maine Department of Transportation to undertake the projects subject to funding, permitting and municipal agreements. LD 29 and LD 30 came from recommendations put forward by Rail Use Advisory Councils that solicited public input and held multiple meetings within the local communities to determine the best use for the tracks. Rep. Lydia Crafts (D-Newcastle), who co-chairs the Legislature's Transportation Committee, said that process exists to help guide legislators. During the House debate, Rep. Karen Montell (D-Gardiner) introduced floor amendments for each of the bills, which sought to prohibit the state from moving forward with the trail development if there is an active business proposal for the rail line. Both amendments failed. The State Railroad Preservation Act allows former rail lines to be converted into trail use, but stipulates that they must be preserved for future rail use. The statute says that any track removal or other change for nonrail use is considered interim. Because of that, Montell argued a more sensible solution would be to build a trail alongside the tracks so they can coexist. Crafts said restricting the ability to use state dollars would prevent the project from being successful. Rep. Amy Kuhn (D-Falmouth), who was involved with the RUAC process in her community, said she was in strong support of converting the redundant, deteriorating rail line into an active transit corridor where commuters can travel by foot or bike. She also worried that it would set a bad precedent to come in with a last-minute amendment to an extensive stakeholder process. Although the Down East Sunrise Trail, a multiuse corridor connecting eastern Maine with the East Coast Greenway, was controversial at first, Rep. Will Tuell (R-East Machias) said businesses have embraced it and seen economic benefits. He loves walking his dog on the trail. Seeing that change in his own community, Tuell said he supported LD 29 because extending the trail to Calais will only boost the whole region. Similarly, Rep. Dan Ankeles (D-Brunswick) said the plan would mark one of the 'greatest advancements in active transportation in a long time.' He said that the best use of the defunct rail lines is a trail and that the lawmakers should 'take the words of the communities that actually did the work,' referring to the advisory councils that developed the recommendations. If the Legislature failed to adopt the recommendations, Ankeles said, 'what we will actually get is a guarantee that nothing will ever happen at all on these lines except decay, abandonment and the squandering of potential in Washington, Sagadahoc and Kennebec counties. In short, economic blight.' However, he said that would be avoided by passing the measures. 'We can do what Mainers do best and adapt and repurpose and in doing so we can deliver something truly wonderful for our constituents,' Ankeles added. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Portland-to-Auburn railway trail project advances in Legislature
May 27—AUGUSTA — The House of Representatives on Tuesday resoundingly supported a plan that would replace an abandoned rail line connecting Portland and Auburn with a multiuse trail. While lawmakers endorsed the plan in a preliminary 118-26 vote that indicates it will be approved, the project would still need to be funded before any work could begin. Opponents said it would cost about $1 million per mile. Critics of the plan argued Tuesday that the rail infrastructure, which provides a key connection between the Portland waterfront and Montreal, should be preserved in case funding becomes available for future rail service. But proponents argued that restoring rail service has so far proven unfeasible, and that a multiuse trail would provide a safe and healthy alternative for cyclists and pedestrians. The proposal, which faces additional votes in each chamber, divided House Democrats, 13 of whom voted against it. Rep. Karen Montell, D-Gardiner, opposed the proposal, arguing that the trail should be built alongside the existing rail line, rather than replace it. She said a state law requires the preservation of railways to preserve rail corridors for future rail use and limits other activities to temporary, or "interim," uses. "It is my opinion that removing rail tracks would not fit the definition of interim," Montell said, adding that other portions of the rail line are used for freight. "A more sensible solution would be to build a trail along this rail line. ... Rails and trails together could create more economic growth ... than just trails alone." Proponents of LD 30 noted that the proposal won the support of communities along the route. Rep. Amy Kuhn said the project was also recommended by a rail use advisory committee, which included representatives of affected communities and stakeholders. Kuhn said efforts to override the recommendations would subvert a process put in place by lawmakers to consider such proposals. She said the advisory group, which spent months receiving public feedback and studying the proposal, exists to balance the needs of trail and rail proponents, each of which have strong advocates. Kuhn argued against a proposal from Montell that would prohibit the use of state funds for the project and allow a business to delay the project by submitting a proposal to use the rail line. "It is very concerning to me that after a thorough and thoughtful process, which was commanded by the state, that a majority report of community stakeholders can be overturned by a last-minute amendment," Kuhn said. Rep. Lydia Crafts, D-Newcastle, said the proposal does not include any state funding. "This is a many years-long project that's before us that will include significant fundraising, if it's able to move forward," Crafts said. Lawmakers also endorsed a similar project for converting about 29 miles of rail line between Gardiner and Brunswick and a 12-mile stretch along the Calais branch into multiuse trails. They voted against LD 487, a proposal that would have authorized the Maine Department of Transportation to seek federal funding to begin studying an extension of passenger rail service from Portland to Orono. Rep. Dan Ankeles, D-Brunswick, said adding more multiuse trails could help address the number of bicyclist and pedestrian fatalities by giving people safer commuter routes. He said LD 29 would represent "a major advancement for public health and safety." "Make no mistake — the best and highest use of these failed rail lines are these trails," Ankeles said. "If we fail to adopt this report, we will not get rail with trail. What we will actually get is a guarantee that nothing will ever happen at all on these lines except decay, abandonment and the squandering of potential in Washington, Sagadahoc and Kennebec counties. In short, economic blight." Copy the Story Link
