On September 30, 2026, the Maine Department of Transportation put contract 026858.10 out to bid. It covers 10 new miles of paved shared-use trail through Fryeburg, Brownfield, and Hiram, and bids are due October 21. The bid documents put the starting point at the existing Mountain Division Trail at Portland Street, Route 113. That is the same trailhead most people in town think of as the far end, the one past the village where the pavement stops.
Fryeburg has kept up its four miles of this trail for more than 13 years, according to the Friends of the Mountain Division Trail. For all that time, a ride or walk on it has gone one way, west toward the state line. Starting next spring, construction begins on a second direction. This fall is the last full season the trail runs only between two ends, so it's worth knowing well before it changes.
The four miles you already have
The Fryeburg segment is about 4 miles one way. It's paved, roughly 10 feet wide, and flat, with benches along the way. Maine Trail Finder rates it Level 1, its easiest difficulty, and describes it as suitable for strollers and wheelchairs. Pets are allowed and there's no fee.
The Friends of the Mountain Division Trail list three places to park.
- Maine State Visitor Information Center, off US-302 near the New Hampshire line. This is the western end, and the lot is large.
- Porter Road, south of the historic village center, near the middle of the route.
- Portland Street / Route 113, the eastern end, near the airport.
Heading west from Route 113, the trail runs through woods lined with wildflowers. Breaks in the trees open up a few mountain views. For about 2.5 miles it follows the road, then it passes south of the village near the Porter Road lot and goes another 1.5 miles to the Visitor Center. Trail Finder doesn't describe it as a riverside path, and nothing in our sources does either. It's a woods-and-fields trail with mountains showing through.
Where you park sets the shape of the outing. If you start at the Visitor Center, the village is your turnaround point. From Porter Road you can choose either direction for a shorter loop out and back. From Route 113 you get the longest uninterrupted stretch before reaching town. That last point matters for what comes next.
Where the village fits into a trail day
Trail Finder notes that local businesses and restaurants are a short distance from the Porter Road parking area. These places have current, confirmed listings worth planning around:
302 West Smokehouse Restaurant and Tavern at 636 Main St. Its posted dining-room hours are Thursday through Monday, 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., which suits a late-morning walk followed by lunch.
Spice & Grain, the Fryeburg food co-op at 17 Portland St, on the Route 113 side of town. It's member-owned under new ownership and management, and held a grand opening on a Sunday, December 7. Maine Morning Micro Roasters lists the co-op as a retail location for its coffee. The co-op's own site asks shoppers to also visit the other downtown businesses and names several nearby, including Bee Lunar Company and Studio 22 Art and Gift Shop. Check the co-op's current hours before you go.
Fryeburg Kitchen and Market at 2 Jockey Cap Ln lists dine-in and ordering. It opens at 3:30 p.m. on weekdays and at noon on weekends, which works better for an afternoon ride than a morning one.
Weston's Farm at 48 River St isn't on the trail, but it's a natural add-on in October. Its October 2, 2026 update reported the fall harvest in and the Hay Fort open, except in wet weather.
Froagie's Ice Cream at 183 Bridgton Rd posts summer hours of noon to 9 p.m. and warns that spring and fall hours can change. Call ahead this month.
There's one calendar note for this week. The 2026 Fryeburg Fair opened Sunday, October 4, and runs eight days, through Sunday, October 11. The fairgrounds at 1154 Main St aren't one of the trail's listed parking areas. Plan trail outings that week around fair traffic.
How the Route 113 end turns into a starting point
The bid splits the new trail into two pieces. The first starts at the trailhead Fryeburg already has, and the second picks up where the first ends.
| Segment | From | To | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Existing trail at Portland Street (Route 113), Fryeburg | Denmark Road (Route 160), Brownfield | 3.5 miles |
| 2 | Denmark Road (Route 160), Brownfield | Mountain View Avenue, Hiram | 6.5 miles |
Like the existing four miles, both segments are designed as 10-foot-wide paved shared-use trail. MaineDOT calls these two segments the first of six in a full 31-mile corridor from Fryeburg to Standish.
Run the numbers from the Portland Street lot. Today that lot opens onto about 4 miles of trail going west. After Segment 1 is built, the same lot sits between 4 miles of trail toward the Visitor Center and 3.5 new miles toward Brownfield. Add Segment 2 and there are 10 new miles going south. On a map, the parking area that has felt like the end of the line ends up near the middle of a 14-mile trail.
The project is called "Trail Until Rail," and the name is easy to misread. The trail is an interim use of an inactive state rail corridor, and the corridor is kept available for possible future rail service. The name doesn't mean a rough or unpaved surface. The bid calls for pavement.
Three towns, three very different votes
MaineDOT wouldn't advertise the project until every town on the route signed a 10-year maintenance and operations agreement. Under that agreement, MaineDOT is responsible for major capital work such as structural bridge repairs. The towns handle jobs like vegetation management and trimming.
The three towns reached that point in very different ways:
- Fryeburg: Select Board approved unanimously, July 23, 2026.
- Brownfield: approved by roughly 2 to 1 on August 6, with more than 210 residents attending.
- Hiram: approved 53 to 50 on August 20, with more than 100 residents attending.
Fryeburg's vote is the quickest of the three, and the Friends' newsletter links it to the town's 13-plus years of running its own segment. Hiram's three-vote margin shows how close the project came to stalling at its southern end.
The timeline from here
Earlier projections were more optimistic. A MaineDOT StoryMap published in July 2026 estimated construction could start in late fall 2026. The Friends' September 30 update revised that:
"Given the onset of colder weather, significant trail construction is expected to begin in Spring 2027."
Here's the sequence as it stands on October 4, 2026:
- October 21, 2026: bids due to MaineDOT.
- The months after: MaineDOT reviews the bids, picks a contractor, and awards the contract.
- Spring 2027: significant construction expected to start.
- Through summer 2027: construction continues.
- 2028: the roughly 10 new miles expected to be finished. The Friends say the timeline will firm up once a contractor is chosen.
That leaves this winter on the existing four miles. Trail Finder notes that snowmobiles use the trail in winter, so skiers and snowshoers need to watch for them. Last season, the Friends reported on March 9, 2026 that snowmobile trails had closed for the year. No 2026–27 winter notice has been posted yet.
The town also posted an online Fryeburg Outdoor Recreation Mapping resource on April 27, 2026, if you want to see the trail alongside other public recreation spots in town.
Before the crews arrive
The section most likely to change first is the Portland Street end, where Segment 1 ties into the existing trail. If you usually park at the Visitor Center or Porter Road, a late-fall ride out to Route 113 shows you the far end while it's still the end. The MaineDOT bid page links to the full final plans, more than 230 pages across two PDFs, for anyone who wants to see exactly where the new pavement connects.
At Ryan Mahan, we keep an eye on projects like this one because a new trail connection changes how a street works day to day, long before it shows up in anyone's listing. If you'd like to know which Fryeburg roads sit closest to the Route 113 trailhead and the new corridor heading toward Brownfield, reach out and we'll go through the map with you. Start Your Local Search.
