We start biking on Sunday. A huricane is coming up the East Coast right now, and I am keeping an eye on it, hoping it weakens and continues to veers east, leaving us dry (or pretty dry) on Sunday. I am not looking forward to a 70-mile ride in the rain!
I want to once again that everyone who is supporting me on this ride, particularly those who have donated so generously to advance the work of the East Coast Greenway Alliance. (Haven’t donated and want to? Click here.)
Building the Greenway is hard work, as I have said before, and it can seem like forever. Even though we know more people will bike if they feel safe because they’re away from traffic. Yes, the Greenway is only 30% off road right now. But this project is incredibly complicated and involves countless partners at so many levels of government. Even something as seemingly simple as signage isn’t simple. (I’ll spare you the details.)
I want to leave you with some factoids to put this effort in perspective.
The Appalachian Trail, a marked hiking trail, took 75 years to build. It skips urban areas.
The Blue Ridge Parkway? Congress authorized this 469-mile roadway in 1936. The last section opened in 1987. That’s more than half a decade for a project with clear government backing from the top.
The Natchez Trace is based on an old forest trail going back to the Indians. Even so, it took even longer to build. But construction of this 444-mile parkway began in 1938 and was finished in 2005. Like the Blue Ridge Parkway, it’s operated by the National Parks Service.
The East Coast Greenway will be a national treasure. And you are part of it.
Exploring by bicycle 