Portland's Peninsula Loop Gained Two New Pieces This Fall. Here's Where It Still Breaks.

Behind Hadlock Field, the old Union Branch rail tracks are still in the ground. The City left them there and laid a stone-dust jogging path between the rails, with a 12-foot paved path running alongside. Portland Trails lists the result as 0.7 miles with lighting, water fountains and benches, plus a fair warning about the highway noise from I-295 next door. The City declared the trail open on October 29.

Across the peninsula, the Eastern Promenade Trail along Thames Street got wider in September. First Light Commons, the new waterfront park beside it, is scheduled to open to the public in mid-November. Both projects belong to what Portland Trails calls an "unfinished, primarily off-street peninsula loop" of about 7 miles once complete. This fall's work filled in the edges of that loop. The stretch that keeps it from closing runs from Park Avenue to the Fore River Parkway Trail, through Libbytown, and the City has design money for it but no construction money.

The rail line behind Hadlock Field is now a trail

The Union Branch corridor runs inside a 40-foot rail right-of-way between I-295 and the Deering Oaks, Fitzpatrick Stadium and Hadlock Field complex. It goes from Forest Avenue and State Street to Park Avenue. The City bought the corridor from MaineDOT in 2022. At a 2023 public meeting, the City said MaineDOT had funded $270,000 for design and $2.8 million for construction. Portland Public Works ran the job and Shaw Brothers Construction built it. Side trails lead into Deering Oaks, and fencing, granite curbs, plantings, benches and lights were being installed in September, ahead of the October 29 completion.

Parks Director Ethan Hipple placed the trail in a larger plan in his October 2026 letter on the City of Portland's news page. He wrote that the trail "will be part of the peninsula perimeter loop trail, linking up with Bayside Trail, Eastern Prom Trail, Fore River Parkway Trail, and the West Commercial Street Trail." On the ground today, the Union Branch Trail connects to the park, the two stadiums and Park Avenue. Getting from there to the next trail on the loop takes either a future pathway or city streets.

For now, the most useful thing the trail offers a peninsula resident is a new way to cross the Deering Oaks side of town off the street. Portland Trails points visitors to the street and lot parking in Deering Oaks Park, lists METRO Routes 2, 4 and 5 as the nearby buses, and requires dogs to be leashed.

On Thames Street, the trail widened before the park opened

The East End's new piece went in out of order. On September 2, the City reported that MacKay Construction had finished widening the Eastern Promenade Trail along Thames Street from India Street to Hancock Street. Work on a new 20-foot waterfront promenade with upgraded railing was still going on behind it. The fresh asphalt was limited to pedestrians and cyclists while it cured, and concrete paths and lawn were still weeks away.

That park is First Light Commons, which until June was called Portland Harbor Common. In his October letter, Hipple wrote that "in mid-November, we will open public access to the new First Light Commons park on our waterfront, with plantings, sculpture installation, and a ribbon-cutting celebration to come in Spring of 2027." In other words, residents get the space this month, and the finishing touches and formal opening come next spring.

The park covers 3.5 acres of what used to be the Ocean Gateway queuing lanes, between the Maine State Pier and Ocean Gateway. The City's design for Phase 1 includes:

• A 20-foot waterside promenade with a new guardrail and informational signs
• A 20,000-square-foot open lawn for informal use, which the City says is not meant to be an athletic field or a dog park
• An elevated plaza off the Eastern Trail at the center of the park, sized to hold a stage or a large gathering
• Flex plaza space along the Maine State Pier edge
• More than 35 new trees and native, salt-resistant planting beds, some planted as monarch butterfly habitat
• Lighting along the pathways and in the new parking area

Parking stays, though there is less of it. The plan keeps 125 of the 250 public spaces. That includes the western area used for Islander and waterfront employee parking and a day-use lot next to Ocean Gateway and the schooner landing. On the City's project page, Hipple explains why the land became a park: "With a lot of hotels, a marina, and office space coming into this neighborhood, it is a priority to preserve a piece of land on our waterfront where the public can come to sit and enjoy the view, play, experience culture, and create community."

The name came from residents. News Center Maine reported that a public naming campaign drew more than 325 submissions and that the City Council adopted "First Light Commons" on June 15. City officials described the name as honoring the Wabanaki people, often called the "People of the Dawn Land," and the Underground Railroad's history in the area.

Where the loop still breaks

With both new pieces mapped, the remaining gaps are easy to see. Here is the loop segment by segment as of early November 2026, based on Portland Trails and the City's project pages:

Three of these breaks matter most for anyone riding or walking all the way around.

The first is Libbytown. The City describes the Union Branch/Libbytown Connector as "still in preliminary planning stages." Between Park Avenue and Congress Street, it is weighing two options. One is a pathway on the old rail alignment using the bridge over Park Avenue. The other is converting part of Valley Street into a separated bikeway beside the sidewalk. From Congress Street to the Fore River Parkway Trail, it has studied routes along County Way, Westfield Street and Frederic Street. The project page states it directly: "No construction funding has been secured yet." Without this segment, the new Union Branch Trail stops at Park Avenue and the Transportation Center is still a separate trip.

The second is West Commercial Street. Portland Trails notes that the Fore River Parkway Trail "ends abruptly on West Commercial Street." It asks cyclists and walkers to use caution there until the sidewalk and bike lane improvements are finished. Riders heading west from the Old Port meet this stretch first.

The third is the Old Port waterfront itself. The Harborwalk is the route Portland Trails recommends between the Eastern Prom and the Casco Bay Bridge. Through the busiest part of the waterfront, it follows the Commercial Street sidewalks and passes Harborview Park. First Light Commons gives the East End a new waterfront edge, but west of the park the loop is still a downtown sidewalk.

There is also a gap on the north side. Portland Trails says plans are in the works to extend the Bayside Trail through Deering Oaks Park to Park Avenue. The City's project overview describes the Union Branch path as connecting to "the future extension of the Bayside Trail at Forest Avenue/State Street." In other words, the Union Branch Trail was built to meet a Bayside extension that does not exist yet.

Two good outings from the finished pieces

The loop is not continuous yet, but the built sections already make two solid outings for November.

1. West side. Park at Deering Oaks, ride or walk the Union Branch Trail to Hadlock Field and Park Avenue, and come back on the stone-dust path between the rails. It is 0.7 miles each way, lit, with benches along the route.
2. East side. Use the street parking on Marginal Way, take the Bayside Trail past the murals and businesses of Bayside and East Bayside, connect to the Eastern Prom, and follow the newly widened Thames Street stretch to First Light Commons. Bring the dog if you like, on a leash, as Portland Trails requires on all three trails.

Neither route needs the missing Libbytown segment, and together they cover most of the loop's finished mileage.

What waits for spring 2027

First Light Commons will open this month before it is finished. Hipple's letter puts plantings, a sculpture installation and the ribbon-cutting in spring 2027. Some features depend on donations. The City's design lists granite seat walls, "signature red swings," and other seating as coming "after successful fundraising." The park was made possible by Richard Barringer's vision and gifts, a Congressionally Directed Spending grant sponsored by Senator Angus King, City capital funding, support from David E. Shaw and Maine Community Bank, and an Urban and Community Forestry grant from Project Canopy. The City sends anyone who wants to help finish it to the Portland Parks Conservancy. The Conservancy says later phases are meant to extend the park farther along the eastern waterfront.

The Libbytown connector is a separate project, and the City's page for it lists design funding only, with no construction funding secured.

If you want to know how a new trail or park changes the blocks around it, from the East End to Libbytown, Dambrie Garon Real Estate Advisors follows these projects street by street. Let's talk about your next move.