WATERVILLE -- Peter Garrett has a plan: He'll ride his bicycle three days and carpool the other two.

Biking to work is nothing new for Garrett, who works as a hydrogeologist for Emery and Garrett Groundwater in Waterville and lives in Winslow, but this week it takes on added significance.

This week, May 11-15, is the statewide "Commute Another Way Week" event in which people and businesses sign up and pledge to commute to work by biking, walking, carpooling, using public transit or other means.

Garrett, who is also president of Kennebec Messalonskee Trails, said he has been actively promoting the weeklong event in the Waterville area.

The event, sponsored by GoMaine since 1995, aims to gets thousands of Mainers involved to reduce pollution and traffic. Participants in the event can win prizes, including U.S. savings bonds of $50 to $1,000.

In past years, according to the event's Web site, more than 500 employers and 5,000 commuters have participated, eliminating more than 11,000 auto trips, 3 tons of pollution and $76,000 in commuting costs.

Garrett, who lives seven miles away from his job, said he plans to ride his bike to work today, Wednesday and Thursday. On Tuesday, he has a conference to attend in Freeport, and has arranged to carpool with others. Ditto on Friday, when he'll be carpooling to a conference in Quebec.

Garrett said he enjoys the event and its message of reducing pollution and transportation costs, but he also really enjoys the chance to ride his bike to work.

"I get exercise and meditation time during a commute and I don't have to go for a run or go to the gym or do something in order to get in my exercise and doing it on the way to work," Garrett said. "I can do that all summer long and some of the winter, too."

Carpooling, too, has its advantages, because you can talk business with your fellow carpoolers during the ride. "It's a great way to network," he said.

Commute Another Way Week also highlights issues of communities being pedestrian-friendly, Garrett said. He thinks Waterville is "pretty good" for pedestrians and bicyclists, but improvements such as more bike lanes on busy roads would be better.

In his role with the trail association, Garrett said he also working with Waterville, Winslow and Oakland on trail connections and improvements.

"In the future you can expect more bike lanes, better walkways and more attention paid to the street crossings," he said.

Greg Brown, Waterville's city engineer, agreed that more pedestrian-friendly improvements should be on the way in the coming years.

He pointed to a recent $500,000 grant the city has received with the help of Waterville Main Street that could fund such projects. And, as part of the Hathaway Creative Center project, the city is studying possible changes to the intersection by the Ticonic Bridge and whether that would require additional traffic changes elsewhere in the city, Brown said.

But, "it takes a long time to get these projects through planning," he said.

Scott Monroe -- 861-9253

smonroe@centralmaine.com