East Coast Greenway Alliance to be on BI Friday, Aug. 12 The East Coast Greenway Alliance board of directors is planning a day trip to Block Island on Friday, Aug. 12, for a bicycle cruise around the island. The board membership is comprised of members from every state that touches the Atlantic Ocean — from Maine to Florida.

The ECGA, based in Wakefield, has been in existence since 1992. Its goal is to create a pedestrian trail for "muscle-powered transportation" from Maine to Florida, said Sue Barker, who is a member of ECGA and the executive director of the Washington County Regional Planning Council.

Barker will be speaking on the issue of bike paths at the Block Island Residents Association annual meeting on Aug. 20.

If anyone would like to join the bike ride, there are sure to be many good discussions along the way. They will have cell phones with them, so you could call if you would like to join up at one of the rest/refueling stops. The group of eight to 10 will stop for lunch at the Southeast Lighthouse at 1:30 p.m. Many in the group will be sporting ECGA T-shirts for easy identification.

Barker's phone number is 401-932-7048.

Barker explained that about 25 percent of the alliance's mission has been completed, with New England being pretty far along. She said that most trails and bike paths are created in deserted railroad beds. There are four bike paths in Rhode Island using these beds, including the East Bay bike path, which starts in East Providence and stretches 14 miles to Bristol.