PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 20, 2021
Efforts to create a bike trail on a 25-mile stretch of railroad linking Portland and Auburn could again be on the back burner based on a new draft agreement between a railroad company and the Maine Department of Transportation, an advocate for the trail project said. Richard Woodbury, a volunteer and leader with the Casco Bay Trail Alliance, said he was flabbergasted this week when he learned the state was again looking to extend an abandonment agreement it has with the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad, which last ran freight on the state-owned rail line in 2015. The stretch of track is a key piece in a plan to link a dozen cities and towns along its route as part of a loop-like trail that would connect Portland, Lewiston and Brunswick with a bike pathway eyed by many as boon for tourism in the region.