Accelerating connection: Our plan to double the Greenway’s impact by 2030
Thanks to partners like you, the East Coast Greenway vision is coming to life as millions of people from throughout our region and all over the world enjoy our emerging linear park. Every five years, we develop a Strategic Plan to guide our work toward completing and activating the Greenway. Our recently completed plan inspired a record $1 billion in infrastructure investment, attracted extraordinary adventures and generated media attention to showcase communities from Maine to Florida.
Our new Strategic Plan (2026-30) adapts to changes in our economy, politics and culture. Over the past year, we asked for input from key stakeholders throughout our organization, our sector and our region. Working with the outstanding strategic consulting team at moss+ross, we heard from more than 400 members, partners, donors, volunteers and staff members through a mix of surveys, focus groups, work sessions and meetings. The new Strategic Plan is responsive to today’s reality that new federal leadership has dramatically curtailed infrastructure investment and created uncertainties that affect our momentum. We are dedicated to playing both defense and offense to maximize Greenway progress and enjoyment, engaging federal stakeholders while doing everything we can to inspire strong leadership from our states, our communities and from philanthropy. Our new path forward stays true to our history and keeps us strong for tomorrow.
Goals for the Years Ahead
We freshened up our mission and vision, adding key words like joyful and sharing our intent for the Greenway to remain both nationally connected and locally rooted. We lifted up top values, including boldness, collaboration and tenacity. And we developed goals to:
- Develop the Greenway
- Promote the Greenway
- Transform the Region
We’re excited to bring these bold goals to life in the coming years and encourage you to watch the video below and read on for more details about our plans to do so.
Develop the Greenway: More Targeted Advocacy
Knowing that we can’t complete the whole East Coast Greenway by 2030, we will focus on developing key corridors that can make the most impact. We will give special attention to these Acceleration Corridors, speeding up gap closures to connect communities in transformative ways.
Promote the Greenway: Highlighting Accessible Corridors
While we will continue to share inspiring stories of arduous and remarkable feats of long-distance adventures from Canada to Key West, we will emphasize Model Corridors of the East Coast Greenway to encourage enjoyment where the route is most developed and safe for an outstanding day, weekend or more.
Transform the Region: Doubling Biking and Walking
This plan has an audacious goal to double biking and walking on the Greenway. We already estimate that the East Coast Greenway is the most visited park in America, hosting around 50 million bike rides, runs and walks per year. We aim to hit 100 million, doubling our positive impact for the health, sustainability and economy of our 15 states and 450 communities.
We are excited to see how this increase transforms the sense of connection with community and nature from Downeast Maine to the Florida Keys. It will take both super-users biking and walking even more per week and for us to inspire many new people to join us on the Greenway through a mix of programming and marketing of the hundreds of existing segments ready for their enjoyment.
Success Through Partnership
For us to achieve these bold goals, we need your partnership. We need you to show up with us at public hearings when Greenway projects are on the agenda. We need you to help spread the word about the amazing sections of Greenway today and the awesome potential of a completed Greenway in the future. And we need you to donate to the East Coast Greenway Alliance nonprofit so that it continues to rise as a leader transforming the way people move, from kids biking to school on Greenway Bike Buses to retirees enjoying a relaxing walk by a meadow.
Especially during this critical 250th year since the Declaration of Independence, it’s an honor to build community with you on our infrastructure of democracy. We have made strong progress together, and this new Strategic Plan can do so much more for our country and the world. Greenways are the gateway to an active life for younger generations. Greenways are sanctuaries of sanity and paths of peace in an age marked too much by division spread by attention-seeking algorithms. From the moose to the manatee and the pines to the palms, the East Coast Greenway fosters strong bonds between people and wildlife that make climate and environmental stewardship second nature. Greenways give hope in these uncertain times, bolstering the strength for everyone to stand up and usher in a better future.
We encourage you to explore the Strategic Plan on our new website and the ways you would like to plug into our effort these next few years. We are deeply grateful for your partnership, and we are excited to face the challenges and build on our momentum together in the years ahead.
Onward,
Regina Yan, Chair
Dennis Markatos-Soriano, Executive Director
Greenway Stories
News, features and more from throughout the East Coast Greenway corridor
