The West Side Trail is a multi-use trail in

Yarmouth, Maine Yarmouth is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States, twelve miles north of the state's largest city, Portland. When originally settled in 1636, as North Yarmouth, it was part of Massachusetts, and remained as such for 213 years. In 1849, ...

. A Town of Yarmouth project conceived in 1988 and opened in 2014, the

trailhead A trailhead is the point at which a trail begins, where the trail is often intended for hiking, biking, horseback riding, or off-road vehicles. Modern trailheads often contain rest rooms, maps, sign posts and distribution centers for information ...

for the eastern portion of the trail is in the parking lot of Tyler Technologies, on Tyler Drive, on the eastern side of

U.S. Route 1 U.S. Route 1 or U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that serves the East Coast of the United States. It runs from Key West, Florida, north to Fort Kent, Maine, at the Canadian border, making i ...

, immediately before the exit 15 northbound on-ramp to Interstate 295 (I-295). The trailhead for the western section is in the

park and ride A park and ride, also known as incentive parking or a commuter lot, is a parking lot with public transport connections that allows commuting, commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, Rail t ...

lot at the southbound exit 15 ramp for I-295, to the west of Route 1.

Phase one

500 volunteer hours were put into the project, headed by Dan Ostrye of Yarmouth's town trail committee. In 2010, Ostrye signed a lease agreement for the town with

Central Maine Power Avangrid, Inc. (formerly Energy East and Iberdrola USA), is an energy services and delivery company. AVANGRID serves about 3.1 million customers throughout New England, Pennsylvania and New York (state), New York in the United States. History In ...

so that the trail could be run through woods and meadows on Cousins Island and over the causeway to woods on CMP property on the mainland. The trail largely follows the overhead

power lines Electric power transmission is the bulk movement of electrical energy from a generating site, such as a power plant, to an electrical substation. The interconnected lines that facilitate this movement form a ''transmission network''. This is ...

originating from the Wyman Power Station, which is at the trail terminus near the southern tip of

Cousins Island Cousins Island is an island in Casco Bay within the town of Yarmouth in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. It is listed as a census-designated place, with a population of 490 as of the 2010 census. The CDP is part of the Portland– So ...

, 5.17 miles from the trailhead. The first stretch rises northeast over a rocky bluff between US 1 and Route 88. When the trail returns to grade level, it crosses Route 88 (Lafayette Street) just a few feet north of Garrison Lane and continues southeast through the woods to a crossing at Gilman Road, which it traverses to the east of the Indian Fighters' burial ground. It then carries on to Princes Point Road. Drinkwater Point Road is the next crossing, before the trail emerges back onto Gilman Road just short of the Cousins Island (Snodgrass) Bridge. After crossing the bridge, the trail restarts at the northern end of the Sandy Point Beach parking lot. From here the trail crosses seven more, much quieter roads: Castle View Drive, Groves Road, Sea Meadows Lane, Tidewater Lane, Talbot Road (the sole outlet to Littlejohn Island), Shore View Drive and Wharf Road. There are four areas where an alternative (and shorter) route is available. These are in the first section; the Gilman-to-Princes Point section; the Princes Point-to-Drinkwater Point section; and the Sandy Point Beach section. Additionally, there are three side loops in the first section and one connector, to the southern section of the Fels-Groves Farm Preserve, in the Princes Point-to-Drinkwater Point section.

Phase two

The second phase was started in 2018. It begins to the west of Route 1, originating from the I-295 exit 15 southbound

lot, crosses the

St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad The St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad , known as St-Laurent et Atlantique Quebec in Canada, is a short-line railway operating between Portland, Maine, on the Atlantic Ocean, and Montreal, Quebec, on the St. Lawrence River. It crosses the Can ...

and Portland Street and ends at West Elm Street. It will eventually connect major neighborhoods, including Oakwood, Applewood and the new (as of 2017) McKearney Village. Unlike the original phase, which was designed for single-track mountain biking and single-file walking or running, the second allows for universal access, thanks to a gravel track. This section also follows the power lines.

Phase three

Hillside Avenue and Greely Road are the planned connecting points to growing trail networks in

North Yarmouth North Yarmouth, officially the Town of North Yarmouth, is a town in Cumberland County, Maine. The population was 4,072 at the 2020 United States Census. It is part of the Portland– South Portland–Biddeford Metropolitan Statistical Area. ...

and

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is a historic county in the far North West England. It covers part of the Lake District as well as the north Pennines and Solway Firth coast. Cumberland had an administrative function from the 12th century until 1974. From 19 ...

, as well as the Twin Brooks recreation area and the new Knight's Pond Reserve. Crossing of active railroad tracks at Yarmouth Junction on Greely Road present "considerable safety and cost issues."West Side Trail
- RRCT.org In January 2022, the RRCT's board voted unanimously to donate $5000 toward the campaign to complete "The Last Mile" of the trail, which would take it past Twin Brooks.

Mileages

Distances measured by GPS; may differ from trail map (cumulative distances in parentheses). ;For the section to the east of Route 1 *Trailhead at Route 1 *1.0 mile to Route 88 *0.25 (1.25) miles to Gilman Road *0.49 (1.74) miles to Princes Point Road *0.17 (1.91) to Fels-Groves parking lot turnoff *0.36 (2.27) miles to Drinkwater Point Road *0.9 (3.17) miles to Sandy Point Beach *0.7 (3.87) miles, including crossings on Castle View Drive, Groves Road and Sea Meadows Lane *0.5 (4.37) miles, including crossings on Tidewater Lane and Talbot Road *0.6 (4.97) miles, including crossings on Shorewater View Drive and Wharf Road *0.2 (5.17) miles – forest loop back to Wharf Road

References

{{reflist

External links

West Side Trail
– Royal River Conservation Trust
West Side Trail's Facebook pageWest Side Trail
– NEMBA.org Hiking trails in Maine Yarmouth, Maine