New Jersey is making efforts to complete its part of a 3,000-mile bike path that will stretch from Maine to Florida.
Picture this, bicycle enthusiasts and fitness fans: A 3,000-mile path wending its way from the upper reaches of Maine to the southernmost tip of Florida, offering mostly traffic-tree sailing along the way.
It's far from a done deal yet, but if the East Coast Greenway Alliance has its way, it might well happen in our lifetimes.
The North Carolina-based nonprofit has been teaming up with local partners, including the Mercer County Parks Commission and the Department of Public Works, to link together existing trails and paths into one continuous route for cycling.
About one-third of the project is complete, and the rest is expected to be done within the next two decades.
East Coast Greenway carves 3,000-mile path
The New Jersey leg of the East Coast Greenway, just under 100 miles long, passes through portions of Trenton, Newark, Jersey City and New Brunswick, with about half of it traffic-free. Organizers say that's the second highest percentage of completed trails for a state.
A highlight of the Garden State's portion is a 35.7-mile stretch along the Delaware and Raritan Canal Towpath, a historic path that runs along the main canal from Bakers Basin Road in Trenton to New Brunswick.
The canal itself, portions of which pass through Frenchtown, Stockton and Lambertville, consistently draws history-lovers to its wooden bridges, lovely 19th Century houses and arched stone culverts.
And therein lies one of the major charms of the East Coast Greenway: It's designed to allow bikers to meander through hundreds of towns and cities along their way, stopping whenever the fancy strikes to explore a hamlet here, an architectural wonder there.
"We want to build a linear park that is available to all 16 million people who live along the corridor," said Dennis Markatos-Sariano, executive director of the alliance.
750-mile biking, walking trail to serve 3.2 million
There are still a lot of kinks to be worked out.
Amidst concerns that the likes of Trenton and Newark are not bicycle-friendly cities, organizers will have to address the issue of rider safety in more developed areas. There are also the logistics of creating convenient access to public transportation for riders, and closing the gaps that exist in some regions of the path.
Still, it's exciting that the vision of nine people who came together in New York City in November of 1991 to bat around the idea of a coast-long trail for bikers has come this far.
With partners such as the Lawrence Hopewell Trail and the New Jersey Department of Transportation and the Department of Environmental Protection, as well as tons of volunteers and supporters, this welcome project is well on its way to becoming reality.
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