ELLSWORTH — Maine Department of Transportation (DOT) officials say the public will come when they build a $1-million, 1.3-mile bicycle and pedestrian trail from Route 179 in Ellsworth to Birch Avenue.

But residential and commercial abutters to the project who attended a two-and-a-half-hour public hearing at Ellsworth City Hall Tuesday night asked: Where will they park? Who will maintain and police the trail? Will the trail eventually connect with the 85-mile Sunrise Trail from Pembroke to Hancock?

“I want the whole picture,” said Martha Nordstrom, whose home abuts the Calais to Brewer railroad line along which the trail will be built.

Joel Kittredge, project manager for the DOT, said the project was initiated in 2002 and will be funded by the DOT and with federal enhancement dollars set aside for pedestrian and bicycle trails. He said the work should be complete by the spring of 2011.

For more community news, pick up a copy of The Ellsworth American.

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