In early June, a Bridgeport passerby ran after Dan and Sadie McGrady, waving his arms like a maniac and yelling, “I saw you, I saw you!”
Dan thought the man might be drunk, until he elaborated further.
“On the noon TV news today, I saw you! You”™re biking across the country with your dog,” the man said, as he shook Dan”™s hand. “I”™ll be damned ”“ I done caught me a celebrity!”
If the turn of phrase sounds more southern yokel than inner-city Bridgeport, don”™t blame Sadie ”“ she is just a dog, after all, whose sojourn in Connecticut is spelled out in the blog of owner Dan McGrady, an Annapolis, Md., resident who rode 850 miles of the still-forming East Coast Greenway trail this summer.
Envisioned as a nearly 200-mile continuous trail through Connecticut, free of vehicular traffic, just a quarter of the East Coast Greenway in Connecticut has been formally designated to date, with nearly another third under development.
The East Coast Greenway was first formally discussed in 1991 at the East Coast Bicycle Conference in Cambridge Mass., and in the summer of 1992 10 cyclists explored potential routes between Boston and Washington, D.C., while raising awareness.
In 2000, then-first lady and current Sen. Hillary Clinton announced the trail had been accorded the status of one of 16 “Millennial Trails” in the United States, along with storied paths such as the Appalachian Trail; the Underground Railroad; the Freedom Trail in Boston; and the Iditarod Trail in Alaska.
Not bad for a trail that does not exist, at least in complete form. Now based in Wakefield, R.I., the East Coast Greenway Alliance envisions a continuous 2,600 trail hugging the coast from Key West to Calais, Maine, near the Canada border.
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In its fiscal 2008 year, the Greenway Alliance had just over $700,000 in revenue and closed the year with less than $200,000 in cash.
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Connecticut was the lone state to feature two of the first five sections of the East Coast Greenway in 2005; the Charter Oak Greenway between East Hartford and Bolton, and the Farmington Canal Greenway that runs north from New Haven.
Planners now foresee the latter trail involving the toughest bushwhacking in the state from the point of view of completing the trail, along with a planned trail that would run parallel to the Merritt Parkway; and a stretch between Hartford and Simsbury.
The Connecticut Department of Transportation has been considering “demonstration” plans for a short segment along the Merritt Parkway corridor, and current construction plans at the Route 7 interchange in Norwalk have taken future trail development into account.
Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy has voiced his support for the project, which is complicated by the Merritt Parkway corridor”™s inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places.
The East Coast Greenway Alliance has not stated whether it is considering alternate routes through Fairfield County ”“ for instance, a coastal trail of the type followed by McGrady and his dog between Greenwich and Bridgeport.
If the Merritt Parkway fits the very definition of a greenway along its tree-shaded route, as McGrady noted, Fairfield County has other scenic byways for the enjoyment of bicyclists, whether residents or just passing through.
“We biked through some of the most beautiful places,” McGrady said. “I didn’t realize that (Connecticut) has so many great beaches and overlooks. There weren”™t many off-road trails, but the roads looked safe and the view was worth the time spent.”
