AUBURN — An extension of the Riverwalk along the Androscoggin River should be finished and ready for use by mid to late October, a city engineer said Wednesday.
Jon Earle, the lead engineer on the quarter-mile extension of the walkway, said rain this summer slowed progress on the $650,000 project by about two weeks.
On Wednesday, crews from T. Buck Construction and its subcontractors continued to work on a retaining wall and steel-framed bridge that will pass under Longley Bridge and allow users to cross under the bridge.
Earle said the opening of the walkway, which will add about 450 feet to the park feature and connect to the Pedestrian Trestle bridge to Lewiston’s Simard-Payne Park and Auburn’s West Pitch Park, will be celebrated during a ribbon-cutting ceremony, likely in late October. With the addition the total length of the walkway grows to 1,900 feet, Earle said.
The walkway and its supporting understructure is set at an elevation to be above the high-water mark for a 100-year flood, or the estimated highest water level in any 100-year period, Earle said. He explained the flood of 1987, which crested just below the carrying structure of Longley Bridge, was 500-year type of flood event.
The structure is rugged enough to withstand most minor flooding but a serious ice or log jam, while unlikely to occur, could damage the structure.
“If there’s a log or an ice jam, all bets are off,” Earle said.
Kevin Rowe, of Pittsfield and a concrete finisher with the Windham-based CB Concrete, works on the Riverwalk along the banks of the Androscoggin River in Auburn. Rowe said he and Bruce Weston, not shown, were working to apply a textured finish to the retaining wall for the pathway.
A new portion of the Riverwalk in Auburn is expected to be completed in October.
Kevin Rowe of Pittsfield, a concrete finisher with the
Windham-based CB Concrete, works on the Riverwalk along the banks of
the Androscoggin River in Auburn. Rowe said he and Bruce Weston, not
shown, were working to apply a textured finish to the retaining wall
for the pathway.
Kevin Rowe of Pittsfield, a concrete finisher with the
Windham-based CB Concrete, works on the Riverwalk along the banks of
the Androscoggin River in Auburn. Rowe said he and Bruce Weston, not
shown, were working to apply a textured finish to the retaining wall
for the pathway.
Comments are no longer available on this story