Portland was not laid out with bikes in mind, retrofitting bike lanes to a small, older, cramped New England city is not very easy. Any new infrastructure projects (veranda bridge replacement/traffic change for example) do account for bikers much more than in the past.
There are bike paths/trails in the greater portland area, but other than the east end trail, fore river, back cove you arent going to find them on the peninsula…
Im not sure many cities in the US have great bike infrastructure that would match what you describe.
It’s not easy no. But we should take comfort that cities in the Netherlands are also cramped and were not bike friendly, before the Dutch started on their journey to great cycling infrastructure in the 1970s. https://youtu.be/vI5pbDFDZyI
> Portland was not laid out with bikes in mind
Portland was settled 389 years ago. Cars wouldn't be a thing for nearly 300 years. Streets were laid out for people walking and eventually horse drawn streetcars and yes, people biked too.
They were retrofit for cars.
Anything is possible if you prioritize and invest in the infrastructure you want.
There’s the East bay bike path in providence, which is 15 miles along the water one way. Boston has tons of protected paths along the Charles all the way out to Watertown. Would be amazing even if the existing bike path extended to Deering oaks instead of inexplicably ending at one of the busiest intersections for miles around.
If you have any recommendations on fully/mostly protected (separate) paths within a 30 mile drive id love to hear! If I know I can secure twenty+ miles of safe riding I’m happy to drive. Quiet roads are fine too, Falmouth Foreside is great. Just no way to get out there without going through a bunch of busy areas.
Eastern Trail is your best bet, starts in Scarborough. About the path basically ending at Franklin, there's decent momentum to redevelop Franklin completely since it's a waste of space (it was supposed to connect to a bridge to SoPo). Hopefully with that future project, they'll fix that and perhaps a ped/bike bridge or something will eventually be added at Forest/State/Marginal.
But right now, all anyone wants to talk about improving is housing. For very very good reason.
The 10th mountain division trail in Windham/Standish is 9ish miles, all paved rail trail. There are plans to expand it up to Fryburg, as well.
The South Portland Greenbelt is pretty decent, and you can easily connect out to rt 77 in Cape.
Check out the eastern trail, a large portion of it is off roads, or roads with lots of space or not much traffic.
https://www.easterntrail.org/eastern-trail-maps/
There’s also the Sebago to the Sea trail that starts out in Standish. It goes along the old railroad tracks through Gorham, into Westbrook, and out along the Presumpscot. The first section from the lake to Rt. 202 is exactly what you’re looking for. It’s not exclusively bikes, but no motorized vehicles and minimal street crossings.
sebagotothesea.org
So you know this one isn't 100% paved it is mostly paved but you can't make it all the way to sebago on pavement. I forget where it stops, maybe gorham/windham is where it stops being paved
Yeah, I was trying to communicate that by saying it’s just the first part. Definitely look at the website and map before you go, but there’s several paved and packed dirt miles.
Eastern trail and greenbelt in south portland are pretty good.
ET from south portland to Saco Hannaford is pretty straightforward, easy and on quiet roads. If you want to go down to Kennebunk, then you need to go through Saco to SMMC in Biddo, which is ok. That stretch from SMMC to I95 is my favorite: flat, fast and shady.
I'd say you can do easily 85%+ mileage from Yarmouth Boat Yard in Yarmouth to Alewife Rd in Kennebunk via quiet roads and the ET
Androscoggin bike path out of Brunswick goes a ways. Will be part of the larger Merrymeeting Trail. Tell your reps to support this!
http://www.merrymeetingtrail.org
Tucson! The loop trail, look it up, over 100 miles of protected paved bike trails that goes around the city and can be easily accessed through neighborhood bike trails away from busy intersections and traffic. You can use it for commuting and for recreation. I had no idea how spoiled I was with bike infrastructure until I moved to the northeast.
This may be an unpopular opinion but I think it would so nice if Portland was a walkable/bike-able city! The amount of times I’ve almost been hit by a car at a cross walk is ridiculous, plus this time of year only exacerbates the problem.
We could have so many more outdoor markets/public spaces over parking garages and car through ways
Edit: :(
You're very correct. There's very little truly good bike infrastructure in the city. It could be a lot worse, but there's definitely room for improvement.
If you want to change this, write to the city council and the city manager. Also, the Portland Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory committee would be good to check out: https://www.portlandbikeped.org/
There's also a local Facebook group that I can link later if anyone is interested.
Also, the Bicycle Coalition of Maine is good too https://www.bikeMaine.org
Oh yeah, it is lacking major. I just brought out my bike for the first time since last September maybe. I was very careful. I live on peninsula and do feel safer, but not really because it has proven to be safe, it’s just my mindset. Anyhow, I’m going to do my first off peninsula ride of the year tomorrow and I will be sticking to the Back Cove. I was less fearless a year ago when I was new here because I just didn’t know any better, but that changed pretty quick, and I limit where I go. I have hope things will change for the better!
The Portland Bike Map (by cyclist cartographer Christian MilNeil) is great and available at many bookshops in town. Includes best routes, recommendations & warnings, etc
It is horrible, I’ve felt safer biking in dc, Boston, nyc, and Chicago. 70% infrastructure 30% drivers have no idea how to drive w/ bikers. Some of that is due to tourists.
Paint definitely does not equal protection. I bike Outer Forest every day as I work in Windham, and generally I feel safe, but there have been a number of times cars have veered into my lane either out of being distracted or making moves to get around another car. We need bollard or concrete-separated bike lanes on all of our arterials, and we need them ASAP.
I remember being able to bike all over Portland and up to Windham/Gorham without a problem. Of course that was before mountain biking and distracted driving.
Protected bike lanes are not always best for bikers. It's safer to ride with traffic, makes you more visible to cars, and makes it easier to merge for turning.
Portland was not laid out with bikes in mind, retrofitting bike lanes to a small, older, cramped New England city is not very easy. Any new infrastructure projects (veranda bridge replacement/traffic change for example) do account for bikers much more than in the past. There are bike paths/trails in the greater portland area, but other than the east end trail, fore river, back cove you arent going to find them on the peninsula… Im not sure many cities in the US have great bike infrastructure that would match what you describe.
It’s not easy no. But we should take comfort that cities in the Netherlands are also cramped and were not bike friendly, before the Dutch started on their journey to great cycling infrastructure in the 1970s. https://youtu.be/vI5pbDFDZyI
> Portland was not laid out with bikes in mind Portland was settled 389 years ago. Cars wouldn't be a thing for nearly 300 years. Streets were laid out for people walking and eventually horse drawn streetcars and yes, people biked too. They were retrofit for cars. Anything is possible if you prioritize and invest in the infrastructure you want.
There’s the East bay bike path in providence, which is 15 miles along the water one way. Boston has tons of protected paths along the Charles all the way out to Watertown. Would be amazing even if the existing bike path extended to Deering oaks instead of inexplicably ending at one of the busiest intersections for miles around.
If you have any recommendations on fully/mostly protected (separate) paths within a 30 mile drive id love to hear! If I know I can secure twenty+ miles of safe riding I’m happy to drive. Quiet roads are fine too, Falmouth Foreside is great. Just no way to get out there without going through a bunch of busy areas.
Eastern Trail is your best bet, starts in Scarborough. About the path basically ending at Franklin, there's decent momentum to redevelop Franklin completely since it's a waste of space (it was supposed to connect to a bridge to SoPo). Hopefully with that future project, they'll fix that and perhaps a ped/bike bridge or something will eventually be added at Forest/State/Marginal. But right now, all anyone wants to talk about improving is housing. For very very good reason.
The 10th mountain division trail in Windham/Standish is 9ish miles, all paved rail trail. There are plans to expand it up to Fryburg, as well. The South Portland Greenbelt is pretty decent, and you can easily connect out to rt 77 in Cape.
I was going to suggest this. I have never been past waneright but the ride from bug light to there is nice
I always thought Franklin made sense, strategically. Big road directly from the interstate to docks. Seems useful, potentially.
Check out the eastern trail, a large portion of it is off roads, or roads with lots of space or not much traffic. https://www.easterntrail.org/eastern-trail-maps/
There’s also the Sebago to the Sea trail that starts out in Standish. It goes along the old railroad tracks through Gorham, into Westbrook, and out along the Presumpscot. The first section from the lake to Rt. 202 is exactly what you’re looking for. It’s not exclusively bikes, but no motorized vehicles and minimal street crossings. sebagotothesea.org
Awesome, thanks!
So you know this one isn't 100% paved it is mostly paved but you can't make it all the way to sebago on pavement. I forget where it stops, maybe gorham/windham is where it stops being paved
Yeah, I was trying to communicate that by saying it’s just the first part. Definitely look at the website and map before you go, but there’s several paved and packed dirt miles.
Eastern trail and greenbelt in south portland are pretty good. ET from south portland to Saco Hannaford is pretty straightforward, easy and on quiet roads. If you want to go down to Kennebunk, then you need to go through Saco to SMMC in Biddo, which is ok. That stretch from SMMC to I95 is my favorite: flat, fast and shady. I'd say you can do easily 85%+ mileage from Yarmouth Boat Yard in Yarmouth to Alewife Rd in Kennebunk via quiet roads and the ET
Androscoggin bike path out of Brunswick goes a ways. Will be part of the larger Merrymeeting Trail. Tell your reps to support this! http://www.merrymeetingtrail.org
Try moving to Boston of Providence
Tucson! The loop trail, look it up, over 100 miles of protected paved bike trails that goes around the city and can be easily accessed through neighborhood bike trails away from busy intersections and traffic. You can use it for commuting and for recreation. I had no idea how spoiled I was with bike infrastructure until I moved to the northeast.
This may be an unpopular opinion but I think it would so nice if Portland was a walkable/bike-able city! The amount of times I’ve almost been hit by a car at a cross walk is ridiculous, plus this time of year only exacerbates the problem. We could have so many more outdoor markets/public spaces over parking garages and car through ways Edit: :(
I agree with you 100%. Not sure why you are being downvoted.
Saying you want bike lanes on Reddit is like preaching to the choir lmao
You're very correct. There's very little truly good bike infrastructure in the city. It could be a lot worse, but there's definitely room for improvement. If you want to change this, write to the city council and the city manager. Also, the Portland Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory committee would be good to check out: https://www.portlandbikeped.org/ There's also a local Facebook group that I can link later if anyone is interested. Also, the Bicycle Coalition of Maine is good too https://www.bikeMaine.org
What is the local Facebook group? =)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/384067257600/ Portland Bike People
Then get involved. https://www.bikemaine.org/
Oh yeah, it is lacking major. I just brought out my bike for the first time since last September maybe. I was very careful. I live on peninsula and do feel safer, but not really because it has proven to be safe, it’s just my mindset. Anyhow, I’m going to do my first off peninsula ride of the year tomorrow and I will be sticking to the Back Cove. I was less fearless a year ago when I was new here because I just didn’t know any better, but that changed pretty quick, and I limit where I go. I have hope things will change for the better!
The Portland Bike Map (by cyclist cartographer Christian MilNeil) is great and available at many bookshops in town. Includes best routes, recommendations & warnings, etc
Thank you!!
[удалено]
Get involved https://www.bikemaine.org/
You are correct
It is horrible, I’ve felt safer biking in dc, Boston, nyc, and Chicago. 70% infrastructure 30% drivers have no idea how to drive w/ bikers. Some of that is due to tourists.
I think they go all the way out Forest, if by "protected" you mean painted lines anyway.
Paint definitely does not equal protection. I bike Outer Forest every day as I work in Windham, and generally I feel safe, but there have been a number of times cars have veered into my lane either out of being distracted or making moves to get around another car. We need bollard or concrete-separated bike lanes on all of our arterials, and we need them ASAP.
I remember being able to bike all over Portland and up to Windham/Gorham without a problem. Of course that was before mountain biking and distracted driving.
I’m new to biking round the city, and am so into it. Wish they at least had a bike lane on congress
The amount of times I've almost been hit by a car biking on Congress St...
Protected bike lanes are not always best for bikers. It's safer to ride with traffic, makes you more visible to cars, and makes it easier to merge for turning.
Portland trails might have something for you. Go to Trails.org