After hearing from a string of supporters and learning that the South Bridge between Lewiston and Auburn has never had a real name, the Legislature’s Transportation Committee gave unanimous support Tuesday to naming it Bernard Lown Peace Bridge.

Retired teacher Al Harvie has promoted the idea for more than a year to name the green bridge over the Androscoggin River, known locally as South Bridge, after the Nobel Peace Prize winner, who spent his teenage years here.

“Sen. (Dennis) Damon commended the two cities for working together,” Harvie said. “He said a lot of times people come in with something like this, and it’s only one-sided.”

Lewiston Mayor Larry Gilbert called Lown after the vote with the news.

“My reaction was pleased, humbled, honored,” Lown said from his Massachusetts home late Tuesday afternoon. “When you reach my stage of life, what becomes meaningful is the recognition of your roots, the people who knew you when you were nothing, or near-nothing.”

Born in Lithuania, Lown, 86, moved to Lewiston when he was 13, he said. His uncle, Phillip Lown, owned the Lown Shoe Shop in Auburn, where The Barn is on Minot Avenue. Bernard Lown graduated from Lewiston High School in 1938.

Gilbert said he read the committee excerpts of e-mail exchanges with Lown and gave out information packets. After the unanimous support, the next step for the bill is a vote in the full House and Senate.

“Hopefully, it will sail through,” Gilbert said. “We did our homework. We went to the two city councils, there’s agreement on both sides of the river.”

Auburn Mayor John Jenkins also spoke in front of the committee, as did several local representatives. No one voiced opposition.

Lown will be lecturing at the University of Maine at the end of March, and there’s some hope he can tie that visit into the signing of a bridge bill by the governor, if things move swiftly. He hasn’t been to Lewiston-Auburn in 10 or 15 years, since speaking at Bates College.

He’s just finished writing a book due out this spring, “Prescription for Survival: A doctor’s journey to end nuclear madness.” Lown said it touches on the five years between co-founding the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War and winning the Nobel Peace Prize with his former Soviet counterpart.

“I feel it’s a vital book,” he said. “It’s really an adventure.”