A group of area residents wants to improve a 14.5 mile trail so bicyclists could use it.
JAY – Selectmen tabled action on a letter of support for improvements to a 14.5 mile trail Monday until a rail trail coalition meets Wednesday. A group of area residents would like to improve the trail so bicyclists could use it for exercise.
Western Maine ATV Club President Bob Dalot asked the board to table it until it is officially known if all-terrain vehicles would be allowed on the trail if a federal transportation enhancement grant is received.
Bob Bachorik, representative of a rail trail committee, read from letters from representatives of the state Department of Transportation and Department of Conservation, that stated that any improvements to the trail would not exclude existing users of the trail.
The rail trail committee plans to apply for grants to resurface the trail, without paving it, that runs from Jay to West Farmington and to rebuild a bridge over the Sandy River in West Farmington to connect it with Farmington.
One hitch in the past has been that if a federal transportation grant were received it would exclude all-terrain vehicles.
Bachorik said the proposal now being considered would be to seek a federal grant to rebuild the bridge and to find the money elsewhere, maybe a state bond, to do the resurfacing.
All-terrain vehicles are already prohibited from using an easement in West Farmington that would access the new bridge, if one were built. The owner of the easement has agreed to let other kinds of transportation cross his land but not ATV users.
Some people at Monday’s meeting supported the upgrade of the trail to give people a safer bicycle or pedestrian route than the streets. They also mentioned that the physical exercise could help avoid heart disease.
The existing surface on the trail was said to be too sandy in areas. The cost of the two projects combined is nearly $1 million.
Selectmen agreed to table action on the support letter until Town Manager Ruth Marden gets some answers to concerns raised by selectmen and citizens, including the responsibility for enforcement, liability and maintenance.
Selectmen plan to take it up at their Monday, April 26, meeting.
dperry@sunjournal.com
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