If you’re riding a bicycle from Maine to Florida, what’s the best route through Westchester?

The cyclists and planning people trying to piece together the East Coast Greenway will tackle that question Thursday, Oct. 18, at Lehman College in the Bronx.

An organizer, Mike Oliva, tells me that all interested people — that means members of the public — are “strongly encouraged to attend.

The Rhode Island-based organization will host a four-hour summit sarting at 3 p.m., and the route through Westchester is one of the major topics on the agenda.

They have been looking at two general routes. One would follow the Boston Post Road corridor, coming through the communities along Long Island Sound. The other would travel along the service road to Interstate 287 and then would run down along the Bronx River.

What’s at stake?

Well, there are the bragging rights that come with being part of something this large, billed as an urban counterpart to the Appalachian Trail. What’s more, local delis, bike shops and other businesses would benefit from having distance cyclers directed through their areas.

As one solution, Greenway organizers have talked about designated both routes through Westchester as part of the trail. Either way, Thursday’s meeting should take them closer to resolving the question.

Find directions to Lehman College here.

The agenda to the meeting is below:

Planned Summit Schedule: Thursday October 18, 2007 3:00PM to 7:00 PM at Lehman College

Dart Plays MC ;

3:00-3:10, Opening remarks and welcome, Jack Keene – ECGA National Office

3:10-3:15, East Coast Greenway mid-Atlantic Regional Overview, Mike Oliva

3:15-3:30, Keynote speaker, Jon Orcutt (possibly Janette Sadik-Kahn) – NYCDOT

3:30-4:00, East Coast Greenway Proposed New York Route – Mike and Jackson

Mike and Jackson describe the proposed route, identify progress to date and discuss critical areas in need of focused attention.

4:00-5:15, Simultaneous Panel Discussions – Westchester and New York City
Representatives of City and State agencies and not-for-profit groups associated with the ECG speak about what their agencies have done, are doing or will be doing, to advance implementation of specific segments of the proposed route, in response to targeted questions form the moderators and public.

New York City Meeting Moderated by Jackson
•NYSDOT Region 11 – Roger Weld and/or Richard Eagan
•NYCDPR – Joshua Laird or representative(s)
•NYCDOT – Josh Benson and/or Ryan Russo
•NYC EDC – Representative
•Randalls Island Sports Foundation (RISF) – Representative
•Hudson River Park Trust (HRPT) – Deborah Kustka (or representative)
•Bronx River Alliance – Maggie???
•Bronx River Conservancy – Representative
•Transportation Alternatives – Noah Budnick or Paul Steely White
•Sustainable South Bronx – Representative

Westchester Meeting Moderated by Mike Oliva
•Westchester County Department of Planning – Lukas Herbert
•Westchester County Dept. Parks & Rec. – Dave Delucia
•Westchester County Department of Transportation – Naomi Klein
•NYSDOT Region 8 – Laura Lemier and/or Jim Rapoli and/or Russel Robbins
•Bronx River Alliance – Maggie???
•Bronx River Conservancy – Representative

5:15-5:30 – Refreshments

5:30-5:45 – Groups reconvene and moderators present highlights of the two prior panel discussions

5:45-6:30 – combined Moderated Panel Discussion (moderators – Mike and Jackson or Dart?)

All of the above participate in a combined moderated panel discussion focused on how to bridge the gap between Westchester and the Bronx with a special focus on inter-agency coordination. Anticipated topics of discussion include:
•Hutch Corridor
•Bronx River Corridor
•Putnam Corridor

6:30 – Until…Networking and mingling