MANCHESTER - U.S. Sens. Christopher J. Dodd and Joseph I. Lieberman shared a bicycle built for two Wednesday morning to promote the recent naming of the East Coast Greenway as one of 16 "National Millennium Trails."
Despite the confines of their long pants, dress shirts, and ties, Connecticut's two Democratic senators maneuvered a borrowed red tandem bicycle along a short section of the Greater Manchester Greenway System, which belongs to the East Coast Greenway and runs from Main Street, past Manchester Community-Technical College, to Silver Lane in East Hartford.
The East Coast Greenway, which is envisioned to connect Calais, Maine, to Key West, Fla., via 2,000 miles of foot paths and bike trails, was designated a national Millennium Trail two weeks ago by first lady Hillary Clinton during a "Rails to Trails" conference in Pittsburgh, Pa.
The designation earns the greenway special trail markers and federal assistance in the organization of a major public event promoting it next year.
Dodd characterized the national trail system, which has received substantial federal funding, as "a gift from the 20th century to the 21st century."
"It makes sense to try and recapture as much of this as we can and give the people an alternative to highways when they want to visit their families," Dodd said.
Connecticut Greenways Council Vice-President William D. O'Neill of Manchester loaned the senators the bicycle, which he and his wife Carol received last week as a gift upon his retirement from Fuss and O'Neill Inc., a local engineering firm.
O'Neill said the local section of the national trail still needs $250,000 in non-federal funding before it can be fully connected to the Connecticut River, by way of Forbes Street in East Hartford.
The federal government has already set aside $900,000 to help pave and fence a portion of the project, but a 20 percent match in local funds is required. O'Neill hopes the state legislature will allocate another quarter-million dollars to complete the section.
"I'm optimistic that the state will recognize the transportation value of the greenway and will assign it $250,000 and it will be done," he said.
Two state lawmakers from Manchester who attended Wednesday's event - Sen. Mary Ann Handley and Rep. John W. Thompson, both Democrats - said they support state funding for the project.
Handley said she believes the money can be found in the budgets of the state Department of Environmental Protection or state Department of Transportation.