The Trail provides a safe place for bicyclist of all ages –
Our Board of Directors sent the following letter to the editor of Shore Publishing last week, and we want to share with you its important message.
“Another heartbreaking death of a local bicyclist riding on the road on Route One in Guilford last week. A senseless tragedy. Cars and bikes cannot coexist where our local roads have no shoulders or a designated ‘bike lane’ is only 12” wide. Yet where else can we bike? We… we seniors, your parents, your grandparents, your families… all deserve a safe bike trail.
In 2012, 4 cyclists were killed, 210 cyclists were injured in Connecticut. From 2006 to 2012, a total of 10,793 pedestrians and cyclists were killed or injured while using Connecticut roads, according to federal and state crash data registries. Such horrific accidents are inevitable in our shoreline until we have a safe, off-road trail for bicyclists of all ages to enjoy the outdoors with healthy, active bicycling.
We as a community can stop these tragedies. One obvious solution is to build a safe, off-road trail for biking and walking through our four shoreline towns of Madison, Guilford, Branford and East Haven. Now, right now, the Shoreline Greenway Trail volunteers are diligently doing just that, but it will take many years to achieve our goal of 25 miles of continuous Trail through our four towns unless many more caring citizens in each of our towns get involved now. We have no paid staff… we are all volunteers. Please join us to help us create our Shoreline Greenway Trail.Visit our website www.shorelinegreenwaytrail.org to join. Contact your town’s chair to volunteer. Shoreline Greenway Trail will be a wondrous asset in each of our towns for outdoor recreation and healthy living …….safely.
Shoreline Greenway Trail Board of Directors
Chip Angle, Chair and Guilford resident
Ginny Raff, Chair, Madison Town Team
Pam Simonds & Milton Charlton, Co-Chairs, Guilford Town Team
Judy Miller & Chet Blomquist, Co-Chairs, Branford Town Team
Barbara Brow, Chair, East Haven Team