LEWISTON – Work will soon get under way on a long-awaited biking and walking trail in Franklin Pasture near Lewiston High School.

On Friday, Lewiston Director of Public Works Christopher Branch said the city has received the necessary state Department of Environmental Protection permit. Bids on work to build the trail will go out in the next several weeks.

The project had been shelved after the city discovered that the DEP permits for some completed projects at the high school, including the tennis court, had to be corrected.

The first part of the trail will run by Lewiston High School through Franklin Pasture to Bartlett Street and onto Adams Avenue. It’s expected to be completed before winter in time for use by cross country skiers, Branch said. Eventually the trail will extend to Railroad Park by the Androscoggin River, but that will depend on the city finding the necessary $400,000, Branch said.

The first part of the trail will provide high school students a way to walk to the school and a forested trail in the city for walkers, bikers and cross country skiers, Branch said. It will include amenities such as bike racks, benches, signs, kiosks and streetlights.

This will be the fourth or fifth trail that the city has built or improved, and the trails have proven popular with residents, Branch said. Money for the $375,000 project was approved and budgeted more than a year ago, Branch said. Eighty percent came from the federal government through the state, and 20 percent from Lewiston taxpayers.

Mike Lecompte, president of L/A Trails, was delighted the trail would soon be built. “It’s fantastic. We’re very happy the project is going to move forward,” he said Friday. This trail and more that will hopefully follow will make Lewiston a nicer place to live by giving people an off-road place to safely walk, run or bike without worrying about cars and trucks, Lecompte said.

Alan Hahnel, former vice president of L/A Trails, agreed, and said trails will show off untapped beauty in Lewiston. “A trail system in this community will be a great asset, and it’s great to start in Franklin Pasture where there’s so much going on – the high school, the new Colisee,” Hahnel said. He hopes the trail will eventually extend down to Railroad Park and run along the canal.

Trails can do much to enhance a community, he said. In cities where trails have been built, such as Brunswick and Portland, they’ve been highly used. “Just as much as Brunswick and Portland, Lewiston has a lot of pretty scenery that’s undeveloped,” especially along the Androscoggin River.

For more information about L/A Trails, go to www.latrails.org.

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