BIDDEFORD — In 1997, volunteers from the Conservation Commissions of Scarborough, Saco and Old Orchard Beach discussed the idea of creating a trail along the unused railroad corridor in southern Maine. Interest in the idea exploded from there, said Saco resident John Andrews, and the all-volunteer Eastern Trail Alliance was formed.

Andrews, who was a member of the founding group in 1997 and is now president of the alliance, has helped the trail become a reality over the years.

As it exists today, the Eastern Trail is about 70 miles long and runs from Bug Light Park on Casco Bay in South Portland to the Piscataqua River in Kittery.

On Tuesday, Andrews participated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrating the latest off-road portion of the trail, which traverses five miles from behind Southern Maine Medical Center in Biddeford to Kennebunk.

Next year, that section will be expanded 1.2 miles when a bridge over the turnpike in Kennebunk is scheduled to be constructed. An additional four-mile section of the trail, planned to be built in 2011, would connect Old Orchard Beach to Thornton Academy in Saco.

Subsequent off-road sections to connect the entire trail will be completed as funding is available.

Andrews recalls how the trail came to be, as far back as when the concept was first discussed, in January 1998, with the Bicycle Coalition of Maine. Alliance members met at the University of Southern Maine in Portland with the group and passed out material about the concept.

Representatives from the Maine Department of Transportation and the National Park Service attended the meeting.

“They thought it was real, and they thought it was built,” said Andrews.

Although the project hadn’t begun, both agencies were supportive of the idea and have provided support and resources, including funding, for the development of the Eastern Trail.

Approximately $9 million in highway funds from the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration has been allocated through MDOT for various sections of the project.

In 2000, the 12 communities through which the trail travels were asked to approve formation of the quasi-governmental Eastern Trail Management District to design and manage the trail’s construction projects.

Within three weeks, said Andrews, three municipalities voted to approve it and within a short time, residents in Arundel and Kennebunk approved funding for the trail system at their respective town meetings.

“I think everyone was shocked,” said Andrews. “This level of support was astounding.”

All communities have since approved the management district.

Initially an interim on-road route of the Eastern Trail was designated ”“ it is marked with signs with the letters “ET.” These sections of the trail, while preserved for cyclists, are being replaced as new off-road sections are complete.

The trail is being built along the historic Eastern Railroad Corridor, which operated from 1842 to 1944. Most of that corridor is now owned by public utilities.

The Eastern Trail is also part of the East Coast Greenway, which will eventually encompass 3,000 miles along the eastern seaboard.

The first off-road portion of the trail that was constructed, which crosses the Scarborough Marsh, was completed in 2004.

In 2005, the South Portland Greenbelt was completed.

Other off-road sections of the Eastern Trail that have been constructed include a one-mile segment along the Nonesuch River in Scarborough and a connection from the Pine Point Road in Scarborough into Old Orchard Beach.

The idea of building a trail along unused railroad corridors is not unique to southern Maine. The rail-trail movement started in the mid-1960s, according to the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy’s website.

Rail trails exist in all 50 states, covering nearly 20,000 miles of former railways, said Carl Knoch, the manager of trail development at the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy’s Northeast Regional Office in Pennsylvania.

The conservancy, formed in 1986, is a national non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C. Its mission is to create a nationwide trail network along former rail lines and connecting corridors, and provide support for organizations constructing rail-trails.

The idea started quietly in the Midwest and then moved into the mainstream of the conservation and environmental movements, wrote Peter Harnick, co-founder of the conservancy.

“After all,” he wrote, “it had all the ingredients: Recycling, land conservation, wildlife habitat preservation and non-automobile transportation ”“ not to mention historical preservation, physical fitness, recreation access for wheelchair users and numerous other benefits.”

The predominately flat rail-trails are uniquely accommodating to people of all ages and abilities, from young children to senior citizens who might have difficulty hiking trails with more gradation, said Knoch.

Rail trails are also good for children to ride on, said Andy Greif, executive director of the Community Bicycle Center in Biddeford.

On Tuesday, he brought several young participants in the CBC on a bike ride along the new Biddeford-Kennebunk section of the Eastern Trail.

Not only is it a “beautiful corridor to ride down,” he said, but also riders “don’t have to worry about road traffic, they can ride side-by-side and the kids can lead safely.”

In addition to other benefits, there is also an economic value to rail-trails, said Knoch, who has conducted economic analyses of similar trails in Pennsylvania.

The average trail user spends about $10 in communities that have rail-trials, he said, buying items like water and sandwiches. The total dollar value to a locale would depend on the number of users.

Saco City Planner Bob Hamblen said he thinks finding users won’t be a problem.

“When these trails get built, all of a sudden people are all over it,” said Hamblen, who enjoys activities like hiking, biking and cross-country skiing. “People like me will naturally gravitate toward this, but even those whose great adventure is walking on sidewalks will use it.”

— Staff Writer Dina Mendros can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 324 or dmendros@journaltribune.com.