TRAILS
Red Brook Trail
Red Brook Trail leads from the Clarks Pond Trail along the bank above Red Brook, offering a pleasant one-way walk of about 1/3 mile.
Managed by the South Portland Land Trust
Trail Heads
RED BROOK TRAIL HAS Three PRIMARY ACCESS POINTs:
Clarks Pond Trail: The best way to access the Red Brook Trail is via the Clarks Pond Trail. Park in the Home Depot parking lot (300 Clarks Pond Parkway), then walk the short distance on the Clarks Pond Trail to the trail junction with the Red Brook Trail.
Clarks Pond Parkway: You can also access the Red Brook Trail from Clarks Pond Parkway at about the point that it becomes John Roberts Road. This is just east of the eastern entrance to the Sappi office (179 John Roberts Rd) parking lot.
Sappi Paper: The trail meets the parking lot of Sappi Paper (179 John Roberts Rd) at its southwestern corner.
About the Trail
In the summer of 2008, members of the West End Trails Committee of the South Portland Land Trust and employees of Sappi Paper, Inc. began work on a new trail that would link the Clarks Pond Trail and points west, particularly the Maine Mall, an area frequented by more than 60,000 people daily. When completed, the Red Brook Trail will allow access from the Mall to the stores in the Clarks Pond area, and provide a pleasant place to walk or run to area employees.
In the late fall of 2008, members of the Maine Conservation Corps spent two weeks stabilizing the Red Brook Trail, adding a bridge and laying down stone dust to provide a solid footbed. The completed section of the Red Brook Trail follows along the brook for roughly 1/4 mile. SPLT envisions adding sections to either end of the existing trail in 2009 to complete the trail.
Plans for phase two include adding a spur leading out to Clarks Pond Parkway and another spur on the western end that will lead another 1/2 mile to the Maine Mall. When that section of trail is completed, it will be possible to walk from the mall to the intersection of Westbrook Street and Broadway without setting foot on pavement (a distance of well over 2 miles).
The Red Brook Trail was made possible through the generous support of the City of South Portland, the employees of Sappi Paper, Inc., the trail building efforts of the Maine Conservation Corps and the West End Trails Committee, a sub-committee of the South Portland Land Trust dedicated to making the west end of the city friendlier to pedestrians and cyclists.
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