January 16, 2025

FOTMDT – New Name Press Coverage

“Friends of the Mountain Division Trail (FOTMDT) is the new name of the organization effective 1/9/25. “It better reflects our sentiment and commitment to this invaluable Maine state asset and how we will accomplish our new mission and vision” says Doug Smith, President of the organization.”

Gorham Weekly –
https://gorhamweekly.com/news/mountain-division-alliance-starts-2025-with-a-new-name

Windham Eagle –
https://www.thewindhameagle.com/online/2025/20250117.pdf

January 9, 2025

Mountain Division Alliance Announces a New Name

Announcing Our Rebranding! We are pleased to introduce our new name, logo, and website. “Friends of the Mountain Division Trail” & FOTMDT.org
With our new name marking the beginning of this year, we anticipate making significant strides towards completing the Mountain Division Trail.

Press Release

November 5, 2024

Rails to Trails Conservancy – Bridging the Gaps: Maine’s Vision for a Statewide Interconnected Trail Network

“Of the many rail-trail projects currently being considered, the Mountain Division Trail is a top priority and has already gone through the RUAC process. Two sections of the trail have long been completed. Now it’s time to bridge the gaps.”
https://www.railstotrails.org/trailblog/2024/november/05/maines-vision-for-a-statewide-interconnected-trail-network/

October 6, 2024

Trail Feasibility Study – Standish to Fryeburg

Story published in the Windham Eagle 8/9/24.
https://news.thewindhameagle.com/2024/08/study-to-assist-mdot-in-planning-new.html

October 4, 2024

Chalk The Trail – Windham

“The event brings people to the trail for a different reason than to bike or walk,” said Andrew Walton, Secretary of the Mountain Division Alliance. “The chalking beautifies the trail, and community members can socialize with trail enthusiasts.”

Story about the Chalk the Trail event in the Windham Eagle (8/2/24)
https://frontpage.thewindhameagle.com/2024/08/chalk-trail-event-raises-awareness.html

October 4, 2024

Chalk The Trail – Fryeburg

Story about the Chalk the Trail event in the Conway Daily Sun (7/12/24)
https://www.conwaydailysun.com/outdoors/biking/wheel-family-fun-fryeburg-s-chalk-the-trail-community-event-and-more/article_5fa8dcfa-3ec8-11ef-be21-93b235aea57c.htm

July 14, 2023

GOVERNOR SIGNS BILL AUTHORIZING MULTI-USE TRAIL

(Portland, Maine) July 07, 2023 – Governor Janet Mills has signed LD 404 into law, which authorizes the MaineDOT to construct a multi-use trail on the old Mountain Division Rail Line between Fryeburg and Standish. The bill was passed by a large majority in the Maine Senate and House of Representatives, demonstrating the legislature’s belief in the value of investing in trails for recreation and transportation. With the Governor’s signature, an interim trail can now be built on 31 miles of unused rail corridor. 
For the Mountain Division Alliance and the Bicycle Coalition of Maine, the action represents the fulfillment of a dream they have both worked on for more than twenty years. 
“The passage by both houses of the state legislature and the signing by the Governor of LD 404 is the culmination of 30 years of work by many individuals, organizations, and municipalities,” said Mountain Division Alliance President Dave Kinsman.  
“The Bicycle Coalition of Maine has long recognized the value of converting the unused Mountain Division rail corridor into a trail, and we join with many partners in celebrating that work on this trail is now imminent” said the Coalition’s executive director, Jean Sideris. 
The bill’s passage into law is the end of a long process. After a 7-month review of potential rail and non-rail uses for the Mountain Division rail corridor from Standish to Fryeburg, the 12-member Mountain Division Rail Use Advisory Council (RUAC) voted 11-1 to recommend the interim conversion of 31 miles of the existing railroad track to an interim 10’-wide paved bicycle and pedestrian trail. The MaineDOT reviewed the proposal and backed the bill to move forward with authorizing the creation of a trail. 
Under Maine law, the conversion of rail lines to trails is always interim until such time as the return of train operations is viable. “Trail until rail” is how DOT Commissioner Bruce Van Note characterizes such projects. 
Once completed, the Mountain Division Trail will be a continuous 40-mile trail from South Windham to Fryeburg going through Gorham, Windham, Standish, Baldwin, Hiram, Brownfield, and Fryeburg. Eventually, it will connect with Portland on the eastern end and New Hampshire to the west. 
The Mountain Division Trail is expected to be both a recreational asset and an important transportation route for active transportation. Paul Schumacher, the President of the Southern Maine Planning and Development Commission noted: “The passage of LD404 creates a pivotal moment and opportunity for the residents and towns along the western section of the Mountain Division Rail Corridor.  The confluence of this opportunity with availability of grants and other funds brings the reality of accelerated economic development in the form of new businesses, real estate development, health benefits, and tourism within our reach.“
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The Mountain Division Alliance’s mission is to work with the nine communities along the Mountain Division Rail corridor, Maine Department of Transportation, and other organizations and stakeholders to create a safe, welcoming, contiguous trail that connects existing paved portions of the trail to provide for active transportation and recreation opportunities from Fryeburg to Portland. For more information about the trail, visit https://mountaindivisionalliance.org.

July 2, 2022

Maine group looking to convert old railroad tracks into trail

The Mountain Division Alliance wants to build a biking and walking trail on or alongside mostly-dormant railroad tracks from Fryeburg to Portland.

News Center Maine Video

April 22, 2022

DOT Advisory Council Votes In Favor of Trail Until Rail!

There’s news and then there’s BIG NEWS. Today’s big news is that the Maine DOT’s Mountain Division Rail Corridor Use Advisory Council just voted unanimously for a trail from Standish to Fryeburg with 11 of 12 votes being cast for a “trail until rail”. Bring on the car-free biking, multi-modal trail use, and economic development! 
After a 7-month review of potential rail and non-rail uses for the Mountain Division rail corridor from Standish to Fryeburg, the 12-member Mountain Division Rail Use Advisory Council voted 11-1 to recommend the interim conversion of 31 miles of the existing railroad track to an interim 10’-wide paved bicycle and pedestrian trail. The committee further recommends that snowmobiles should remain an allowable use, under annual agreement with MaineDOT, within the corridor. The committee did not support expanding allowable uses to include ATVs or other motorized recreational vehicles. 
HUGE thanks to the Mountain Division Alliance, Maine Trails Coalition, Bicycle Coalition of Maine and our partners for all you did to get us here. Our work has just begun. Next up: Merrymeeting Trail and Casco Bay Trail.

February 10, 2022

Proposed rail trail aims to connect Portland to Fryeburg

Thanks to WMGE 13’s Blair Best for covering this exciting story.
PORTLAND (WGME) – A newly proposed rail trail aims to connect Portland to Fryeburg. Alongside an inactive rail line in Westbrook, there are plans to build a trail next to it to better connect surrounding communities.
“It’s such a great public asset, and all over the country and all over the world, we have these amazing rail trails connecting neighborhoods,” Westbrook Recreation Conservation Commission Chair Paul Drinan said.
From Portland to Fryeburg, the trail connecting nine communities is in the works. Most of the trail already exists, and Westbrook’s economic development director says it’s the most used trail west of Portland.
“But a section of it from downtown Westbrook to Windham is not completed,” Westbrook Economic Development Director Daniel Stevenson said.
The focus now is connecting Westbrook to Windham.
“If you’re a family, you can get off of the street, walk safely away from cars out of traffic,” Paul Drinan of the Mountain Division Alliance said. “You can walk with your children.”
Also read: Mountain Division Trail may be expanding
When the project is completed, the trail connecting Windham and Westbrook will be a paved path next to the railroad tracks. Those behind the project say it will also increase property value and local economies.
“The development of trails is economic development,” Stevenson said.
Right now, with help from the state, they have $450,000 to complete the trail’s final design. The whole project will take about two years. “I think it’s a great idea,” Windham resident Will Plumley said.
Plumley says it would benefit Windham, a town he’s been living in for 37 years.
“I like that it allows you to get out in nature, off of the street, away from exhaust,” Plumley said. “I like that it pulls communities together.”
Also read: Maine Trails Coalition working to open more walking and biking trails in Maine
Not everyone is in favor of the project, though. “Yes, there are some people that are opposed, but the fact is that from Portland to Windham is going to be a rail with trail, so it really is the best of both worlds,” Drinan said. Westbrook’s economic development director says down the road they’ll look to state or federal funding to help finish the project.

February 10, 2022

Westbrook-Windham Rail Trail Moves Forward

The Westbrook-Windham rail trail project, part of a planned 50-mile trail along unused railroad lines from Fryeburg to Portland, is $450,000 closer to completion. The project just received $450,000 in grant money to complete engineering and design work on the proposed 5-mile trail. 

The project received funding from the Maine Department of Transportation last week, according to Rachel Curran Apse, director of the Presumpscot River Land Trust, which has been working on the project with about 17 other groups, ranging from nonprofits to local governments.

The money will be used to finish engineering and design work needed to create a five-mile trail along unused railroad beds owned by the state. It will start near from near the Westbrook Community Center on Bridge Street and connect with the existing rail trail in Windham near Chute Road near the Gorham town line. The existing path connects to Gorham and Sebago Lake.

When the Westbrook-Windham section is completed, a walker or cyclist could start in Westbrook and end at Sebago Lake.
The Westbrook-Windham trail aligns with the Sebago to the Sea Trail plan, overseen by the Presumpscot Land Trust, while also factoring into the separate but related Mountain Division Trail Alliance’s plan for a 50-mile trail between Fryeburg and Portland.

While the Westbrook project is five to 10 years out from expected completion, being able to finish the design work is a big step as it is expected to leave the project “shovel ready,” Curran Apse said.

“What is exciting about this rail-trail project is it finishes up the Sebago trail and extends the Mountain Division Trail. We’ve worked with a broad coalition with folks to keep this project moving forward,” she said.
The project has been in the works for nearly three decades, according to Windham Parks and Recreation Director Linda Brooks, starting with the Mountain Division Trail Alliance’s early plans for the whole trail, followed by the push for the Sebago to the Sea Trail.

The Westbrook portion was first studied and discussed in-depth back in 2011. Initial studies were conducted, but a lack of funding put planning on hold.

“Regionally we are getting to a bigger picture we thought up in the ’90s,” Brooks said. “It has been really great to see these communities work together over the years.”

Westbrook’s trail would be much like Gorham’s, which is highly accessible to all, including those using wheelchairs, Curran Apse said.

The cost of the overall project wasn’t available, but discussions in 2011 organizers estimated a $4 million price tag, to be paid for through federal grants.

Mountain Division Alliance member Paul Drinan, a Westbrook resident and chairperson of the city’s Conservation Commission, said rail trails are safe and healthy.

“It totally separates you from cars and ends up being healthier that way, and they can be used by thousands of people from all over,” Drinan said. “These make sense because the rail corridors are long and flat, no hills or curves.”

While the vision for a trail from Fryeburg to the sea may far down the road, Drinan said progress with this stretch of the trail will have a big impact on local recreation.

“We are seeing so many more people use trails, and this really expands on that. It’s also a way for people to get from one place to another,” Drinan said.

Westbrook Economic Development Director Dan Stevenson agrees and also sees a financial incentive.
The trail in Westbrook would bring bicyclists from Windham into Westbrook who could patronize local businesses, for example. He also estimates property values around the trial would increase.

 “Another thing is that especially more so with the younger population, they really want to be in communities with multiple modes of transportation, and they want to use trail systems,” Stevenson said.

According to Curran Apse, once the Westbrook design work is done, they will be ready to apply for federal grants to fund the project. There is currently no expected finish date for the work that was just funded.

“It’s really exciting to see this all come together, but it couldn’t happen without the broad group of folks who have worked on this,” she said.