Leave the car at home and hop on your bike because Rye is part of the East Coast Greenway, an ambitious project to create the longest bike path in the nation. East Coast Greenway Alliance, the non-profit that conceived the idea of a "long-distance urban trail," estimates that once complete, the ECG will span a distance of 3,000 miles, linking Calais, Maine with Key West, Florida.
The ECG Alliance envisions the Greenway as "a linear park" that will incorporate "waterfront esplanades, park paths, abandoned railroad corridors, canal towpaths, and pathways along highway corridors."
According to the ECG Alliance, there are numerous benefits that will result from the creation of this ambitious project, including:
- Improving public health by empowering active transportation and safe recreation
- Lowering pollution by substituting car trips with bicycling and walking
- Providing greenway construction & maintenance jobs
- Increasing transportation options
- Giving non-drivers, such as children, the elderly, and people without cars, more independence
- Reducing roadway congestion
- Enhancing local economic development
- Connecting people and communities
- Helping to create new and inviting public spaces for everyone to enjoy
- Raising land and home values within the greenway corridor
For more information about the Greenway and news about the New York Section, visit the ECG Alliance website. A map of the NY Section is reproduced below.
