Sea Coast Online.com: He’s helping to make bicycling connections - Greenway project will tie N.H. to rest of the East Coast

Nels Tyring of Stratham is 76 years old, a cancer survivor, grandfather to five, great-grandfather to another five, and for the last 18 years has been bicycle enthusiast. Tyring is a longtime member of Seacoast Area Bike Routes, and three months ago he was elected to the organization’s executive board. How did he get involved with SABR? “I had some time on my hands when I was (recuperating),” Tyring said in describing the time after he had half his left lung removed due to cancer. He sees bicycle riding as an eco-friendly way to enjoy the Seacoast and he wants to promote safe bicycling to everyone.

He said he wants to do all he can to ensure his grandchildren and great grandchildren inherit a livable world in the future. The first major accomplishment he hopes to complete is to have New Hampshire become the first state to complete its section of the East Coast Greenway.

The greenway is an effort to connect the major cities of the East Coast along a continuous, off-road bicycle route. The plan spans 3,000 miles from Calais, Maine, to Key West, Fla. According to the greenway Web site, the trail is 21 percent open for public use.

Eighteen miles of that trail run through the New Hampshire Seacoast region. According to Tyring, that will make it pretty easy for New Hampshire to become the first to complete its section. “It’s already a state bike trail; eventually, we would like it to become off-road trails,” he said. He also indicated the current path is safe except for a couple of sections on Route 1B in Portsmouth and Rye.

In this section of the route, there are spots with little or no shoulder and the road has a number of twists and turns, making it dangerous to cyclists and drivers. “Especially Foyes Corner,” Tyring said. According to Department of Transportation bike and pedestrian engineer Tom Jameson, a project is already in the works for that section of road. “We are putting more shoulder from Foyes Corner to just before Odiorne Point,” he said. “We’re adding 2- to 3-foot shoulders.” Although the DOT wishes it could add safe bicycle paths and pedestrian ways to all streets, limited funding and land-disturbance issues make it a very slow process.

“The hope, though, is we are going to put up some signage and let motorists know there are cyclists,” Jameson said. SABR will be urging the towns and the Department of Transportation to take on a project that makes the roads safer for cyclists. When that happens, the ECG can fully endorse New Hampshire as the first state to complete its section. Also, New Hampshire’s segment of the greenway is one of the only to actually run along the coastline.

In other states, the majority of the paths are through woods and highways, but in the Granite State, a majority of the path runs near crashing waves, sand and the smell of the ocean. “If you look at a map, this is about the only place in New England where the trail is going to follow the coast,” Tying said.

“We’ve got some really neat coastline.” Tyring says most cyclists could easily ride the N.H. portion. The 76-year-old thinks he could do it easily in 1½ hours. Tyring said cycling is becoming an increasingly popular recreational activity, and he hopes for the support of town and state representatives and area residents. Tyring said nowadays people are more conscious of global warming as well as their impact on the environment.

He thinks the development of this greenway will yield millions of dollars worth of commerce going toward a “green” form of recreation. According to the U.S. Commerce Department, in 2004, there was $40 billion in biking revenue. Whether it’s lodging, bike gear or transportation, “A big piece of it is bike tourism,” Tyring said. According to Tyring, New Hampshire does have a good deal of business coming from bike tourism.

Also, he said the state has been very good at making bike paths and access points when new bridges and roads are built. SABR has the goal of getting 22 towns to declare themselves bike-friendly. So far, Stratham and Kittery, Maine, are on the list. SABR hopes to have New Hampshire declared the first on-road section of the greenway completed by Memorial Day next year.