Tourism officials expect serious cross-country bikers as well as biking tourists to eat in local restaurants, stay in local hotels, buy in local shops and otherwise get to know Havre de Grace and Bel Air, now that the East Coast Greenway is coming to – make that through – the towns.

The East Coast Greenway (ECG), a 3,000-mile Maine to Florida trail similar to the country’s Appalachian Trail for hikers, will now meander through Harford and Cecil counties. Michael Oliva, Mid Atlantic regional trail coordinator of the ECG Alliance, gives much of the credit to Walter Biller and Mara Wasilik, owners of Biller’s Bikes in Havre de Grace.

Biller agreed to drive cyclists and their equipment across the Thomas Hatem Bridge, which spans the Susquehanna River on Route 40. As a result, state officials decided to move the river crossing from the Route 1 Conowingo Dam to the headwaters of Chesapeake Bay.

“This has been a long-running need,” said Brigitte Layton, director of tourism for Havre de Grace. “Cycling is a natural fit for Havre de Grace. It’s very bike-friendly.”

Oliva agreed. “We didn’t have a choice but to go over Conowingo Dam, and the result was developing the route in the northern part of county. We bypassed great little towns like Perryville and Havre de Grace. With Biller’s Bikes having the service, we had a new option and said, ‘Wow! Here’s our opportunity to develop a route at the southern end of Cecil and Harford counties’,” he said.

A southern route through Cecil and Harford counties is more preferable, he said, because the northern area, while attractive and historical, offers fewer services, such as restrooms and food. After a series of public workshops, the new route was established.

Dianne Klair, a former Havre de Grace planner who rewrote the town’s comprehensive plan in 2004, said the ECG expands interconnectivity that already has been developed locally. In a telephone interview, she described local efforts to develop bike trails in town as well as to connect to the Lower Susquehanna Heritage Greenway (LSHG).

“Our problem was S.R.  155. We needed alternate means to get to the top without going straight up the hill,” she said. “Where Route 40 blocked access to the (LSHG), the new townhouse communities provided that connection. On a micro-scale, we wanted to connect the older and newer parts of the city and the (LSHG). With the (ECG), now that connection is interstate. From a planning perspective, that’s pretty neat,” she said.

According to its Web site, the LSHG, when complete, will create “40 miles of continuous public recreation trails connecting Harford and Cecil Counties.”

Oliva said the ECG’s goal is to develop a 100 percent off-road trail from Maine to Florida. To date, about 600 miles the 3,000-mile trail is off-road. Paved roads comprise the remaining trail, serving as connectors to unpaved greenways.

The ECG Alliance is pieced together much like the trail its members strive to create. Each state through which the trail runs has an organizational committee, and the ECG has a board of trustees, advisory board, a trail council and small staff of 11 to coordinate and support what amounts to state and local efforts to determine the best route for the trail.

The ECG offers cue sheets – cyclist lingo for detailed turn-by-turn directions, helpful hints and instructions – free of charge from its Web site at www.greenway.org. able, PDF cue sheets are available for increments of the trail, so cue sheets can be printed as needed. The site also offers advocacy tools and merchandise to help local organizations advocate for and support the ECG in their area.

To learn more about Biller’s Bikes Thomas Hatem Bridge crossing service, see our online-only feature about the business at www.harfordledger.com.