AUBURN — Work extending the Riverwalk path under Court Street to West Pitch Park is finished, and an official ribbon-cutting is scheduled for later this month.

Auburn Community Services Director Eric Labelle said crews finished paving the path under Longley Bridge on Friday and removed barriers, opening the underpass. It connects Auburn’s Riverwalk path, which runs along the Androscoggin River, to the path behind the Hilton Garden Inn.

Labelle said crews would be back in the spring to do some landscaping along the path. An official ribbon-cutting to open the path is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Friday, Nov. 20.

Officials have been planning the underpass for a number of years. The city extended the Riverwalk path from Festival Plaza to the
southern edge of Court Street in July 2006. That involved building a
new path along the river behind Gritty McDuff’s brew pub and a flat
landing directly beneath Longley Bridge.

A stairway connecting Court Street to the Riverwalk below opened in
summer 2007. That allowed people to walk along the river
without having to detour up Main Street, but it didn’t go under Court
Street.

The city received a $600,000 grant from the state’s current budget
to build the underpass but bids came in $45,000 higher. The state
agreed in May to give the additional $45,000 to complete the project.

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