Riverton to Deering Center connector?

[Emilie Swenson]

Good morning intrepid PBPAC crew,

I think I may have asked this before in this group, but maybe trails have changed over time or maybe there are some new strategies.

I’m looking to get from Riverton//Talbot School to Deering Center on bike (child on board, otherwise might be a bit bolder in my bike route options). Does anyone know if there are any cut through trails in the neighborhoods south of Forest Ave that might better connect the school to Evergreen and on to Deering Center? Trying to avoid Forest/Morrill's Corner. 

Not sure if photos attach, but attempting to include image of a walking rouge that google provided me. My concern is that I think a lot of people use Hicks St as a quick cut through and trying to minimize time on Warren. It seems like once you get to Bishop St, you’re in the clear becauae you can navigate through trails behind UNE/Evergreen. 

(There are nice routes through the neighborhood north of Forest, but that still requires a Morrill’s Corner cut through to get to Stevens.)

Thank you for any insights! I hope everyone has a beautiful day!

-Emilie

P.S. Big shout out and gratitude to Portland Trails and co for cut through trails that really improve quality of life and safe commutability via bike! 

[Zack Barowitz]

From Hicks you can get on a dirt road that brings you to Warren where you can cross over to Bishop that takes you to Stevens which avoids Morrills corner. (Is that what you were asking?). I don’t know a cut through to Hicks though. 

207-838-6120

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[Aaron L. Rosenblum]

Emilie,

I go that way from near Talbot school often, but don't have any better option than what's shown in your image, which is basically what I do - Forest only as far as Hicks, then Hicks to Hemingway to Warren, to Bishop and then into UNE/Evergreen. You could cut a tiny bit of Forest out by taking the crosswalk from Talbot to Empire Way/Belfort, and there's a cut through from Belfort to Commonwealth, but then you're just at Commonwealth and Forest and didn't save much. 

As far as future routes, I know there's some interest (from me, for one) in the city making better use of the large tract between Talbot and Warren Ave. There are trails back there, unsanctioned and not always passable, especially when the ground isn't frozen. But if built out and made accessible, it would make a fantastic connector from Forest to Warren, and then across to Evergreen, then to Baxter Woods or up to Brighton, etc. - could be a really incredible corridor from Riverton and beyond into town. Note that I know of no solid plans for this, but have mentioned it to a few folks here and have the sense that it's at least on the radar of future ideas among trail folks. 

Aaron  

On Mon, May 18, 2026 at 7:38 AM Emilie Swenson <emilie....@gmail.com> wrote:

[Zack Barowitz]

Oh I see your maps now, oops nevermind. 

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[Jaime Parker]

Great question Emilie,

This is definitely a gap in the system that we are focused on.  Portland Trails is working with the City to create a Riverton Byway - an alternate route to avoid Forest and create a more direct link to Hicks and Bishop.  Landowner negotiations are in process, but hopefully we can share a new route soon.  

Thanks for the shoutout!

Jaime Parker

Special Projects Director
Portland Trails
ja...@trails.org
207.329.6180

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[Christian MilNeil]

Maybe I'm stealing Jaime's thunder, but the city recently secured a new easement that could let it eventually connect Bishop Street to the Avalon Road neighborhood via an undeveloped city-owned right-of-way, as part of a self-storage facility's site plan approval at the Planning Board:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DXwtAoSjtSV/

In the meantime, there's also a rough dirt trail that goes from the end of Range Street to Warren Avenue, near the Bishop St. intersection. You can see it in Google Street View. It does get muddy in wet weather but at least it's short and it basically eliminates the need to ride on Warren Avenue – you can just cut straight across to Bishop Street.

I'll also put in a plug for folks to use OpenStreetMap, which is much better than Google Maps for up-to-date info on biking and walking routes. It includes the Range Street trail and many other shortcuts around the city:

Christian MilNeil
- - - - - - - - - - - - -

On Mon, May 18, 2026 at 8:01 AM Aaron L. Rosenblum <arose...@gmail.com> wrote:

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[George Rheault]

Just a reminder that we could be celebrating a decade or more of enhanced connectivity here IF the City Council had not vetoed housing for this area back in 2007.  

See attachment for the "Road Not Taken" almost 2 decades ago.

The "Warren Green" duplex subdivision attempted to create both family housing AND some Forest to Warren byways. But the neighbors hated it and that is really all that mattered. The City Council decided it could hide behind wetlands excuses and housing market conditions at the time to justify the NIMBYism here.

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[Emilie Swenson]

Thank you all for these ideas! And thank you, Portland Trails for continuing to work on this. It sounds very exciting to continue to build out the trail infrastructure in the area. Christian - those are good tips about roads less traveled and possible routes - I will also try OpenStreetMaps - that's a great suggestion. 

Interesting historical context about the 2007 development plan. 

This group is so awesome!

Thank you!

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[Scsmedia]

Due to the housing market conditions at the time, this would never have been built.  This was just about the time the foreclosure market spiked in Maine and across the country.  I don't remember this project ever being discussed.

Steven Scharf

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[George Rheault]

This project is very similar to most large subdivisions built south of Bangor in the 21st century that wend their way through pockets of "wet land" (vs. "wetlands" - both words are politically charged and as subjective as a Picasso painting) and somewhat challenging topography.  

If the City had allowed it, it might have been stalled between 2008-2010 but it would have been built eventually.  The only question is at what price point.  

Very similar in some respects to the Camelot Farm-Stroudwater Estates project which took its sweet time building out (I think early sales in their Phase 1 helped finance the build out of the rest of the street/utility infrastructure) but is almost done (with of course their "townhouse" phase coming in last with no sign of groundbreaking there).  Those Stroudwater houses are unfortunately now $800K and more.  Great for families that could afford Yarmouth, Falmouth or Cape Elizabeth but prefer to be in Portland, but not so great for anyone who can't. 

The City Council in summer 2007 wanted to avoid controversy (because they were already looking bad from saying no to other projects) so they never took a vote on the merits and merely referred it back to the Planning Board which was against it from the start and was happy to help kill it for good in early 2008.

A lot of people during the "go-go days" of the early aughts did not want competition like this, so there was a political consensus that despite housing getting very expensive in Portland between 2000 and 2007 that putting more product on the market was just going to make it harder to do flips on the peninsula or sell your house in North Deering.  Hiding behind environmental concerns made it that much easier for Portland City Council to JUST SAY NO TO NEW HOUSING like this.  

I wonder how that worked out for everyone since then?  

Most of the traffic on Warren Avenue today is people having to commute to far-flung housing beyond Portland city limits because they have been priced out of Portland and cannot find affordable family-sized units with some yard/open space that makes the trade-offs of Portland life worth opting for over the traditional suburban lot in Windham, Raymond or Gorham.  

 

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