Casco Bay Rail to Trail Project

Background

In July 2021, the Falmouth Town Council passed a resolution requesting the Maine Department of Transportation (MaineDOT) create a Rail Corridor Use Advisory Council for the proposed Casco Bay Trail in order to consider future use of the Casco Bay SLA Corridor as a multi-use “trail-until-rail”. Find the resolution here. Find the meeting agenda and video here. 

The Town Council’s resolution was one of many letters of support from all communities along the rail corridor requesting the formation of a Rail Corridor Council to study and review the future use of the 26.5 miles of state-owned, inactive rail-line. Known as the St Lawrence and Atlantic (SLA) rail corridor, it was acquired by the State of Maine in 2007 and 2010. Rail service was discontinued in 2013. The Casco Bay Trail is a 10-mile, disused portion of the rail corridor running from Portland to Falmouth, Cumberland, and Yarmouth. Approximately 3.8 miles of the corridor is in Falmouth.

The Rail Use Advisory Council (RUAC)

The initial meeting of the Rail Use Advisory Council (RUAC) occurred in April 2022. Falmouth’s Town Council Chair, Hope Cahan served on the 15-member Council. Visit the RUAC website here.

The RUAC was directed by the Maine State Legislature to review and make recommendations on the likelihood, economic benefits, and costs of potential uses of the rail corridor, including, but not limited to, rail use, trail use, or bikeways. Any non-rail use of a rail corridor must be considered by a council to be interim in nature, and all such rail corridors must be preserved for future rail use.

The Council reviewed the approximately 26.5-mile section of the St. Lawrence and Atlantic rail corridor known as the Berlin Subdivision from railroad mile post 0.0 in Portland to railroad mile post 26.5. The RUAC review process was concluded in January 2023. The final report and recommendation of the RUAC can be found here.  

RUAC Recommendations

The RUAC arrived at 3 recommendations:

  • 7 members voted to recommend an interim bicycle and pedestrian trail
  • 5 members voted to recommend the trail with rail option (i.e., leaving the track in place and building an adjacent trail)
  • 1 member voted for the Rail Use-only option

Two members abstained from voting.

These recommendations were submitted to the MDOT Commissioner. The interim trail until rail alternative that garnered the most support from RUAC would cost up to $55,000,000 (depending on surface type) to implement across the entire 26.5-mile corridor from Portland to Auburn. Sources of funding for the project were not included in the RUAC summary report. However, such an undertaking would likely be funded by state and federal funds, private donations (i.e., via the Eastern Trail Alliance and Casco Bay Trail Alliance), and potentially local government matching funds. No timeline has been published for implementation of any alternative, and no engineering has been completed.

Falmouth Supports Recommendation

Falmouth has been proactive in planning trail connections across the Town and to neighboring communities. The rail trail is contemplated in Falmouth’s 2016 Bicycle & Pedestrian Plan. See the plan here. 

There is now public support for implementing the RUAC recommendations, including from Falmouth residents and Town Council members. Therefore, at its meeting on October 23, 2023, the Falmouth Town Council passed a resolution to support an interim trail on the 3.8 miles of state-owned, inactive track in Falmouth and petitioned the Commissioner of Transportation and the Maine State Legislature to approve the conversion of 26.5 miles of the Berlin Subdivision Rail Corridor to an interim bicycle and pedestrian trail, consistent with the recommendation of the Rail Use Advisory Council. See resolution here.  Find Town Council meeting agenda and video here.