LEWISTON — A mile-long stretch bordering the Androscoggin River could become a recreation path linking Sunnyside Park and Tall Pines Drive, according to a city plan.
If approved by the City Council, the Lewiston Riverside Greenway project would be built in the spring and summer of 2012 using a Maine Department of Transportation grant.
The city of Lewiston would have to agree to pay for $464,000 of the work to qualify for a state grant that would pay for the rest of the $2.3 million project. City councilors are scheduled to vote on the path, as a part of a $5.4 million bond package, at their June 7 meeting.
The new path eventually would tie into Gulf Island Dam and into paths across College Street, Stetson and outer East Avenue, Public Works Director David Jones said.
“When all is said and done, we’d have 5 or more miles of dedicated, multiuse path,” he said.
The proposed path would head north out of the river side of Sunnyside Park, hugging the eastern banks of the Androscoggin River. It would continue past Riverside Cemetery and over Jepson Brook, where a small pedestrian bridge would be built.
The path would continue north, under the Veterans Memorial Bridge, until reaching Tall Pines Drive.
Three river overlooks would be built into the path between the Veterans Memorial Bridge and the path’s northern end.
“There really are spectacular views, and you should really see it, once the weather clears, so you can truly appreciate it,” Jones said.
The path will be a 10-foot-wide paved route, following an unofficial dirt path along the river. Jones said the city owns most of the land along the path or has easements along the way. It’s the site a city sewer interceptor pipe buried underground along the river in the 1970s.
“There is some private property along the way, but we are working to get access to most of that,” Jones said.
The Greenway path is being designed to tie into sidewalks that either exist today or will be built this summer.
City Engineer Richard Burnham said three projects are scheduled for the summer.
“It’s part of the overall master plan, giving us some sort of path or sidewalk all the way from Railroad Park along the river and back,” Burnham said.
The sidewalk project will add paths between Main Street and Sunnyside Park along Chapel, Lowell, Middle, West Bates, Summer, Bridge and Winter streets.
The second would add a sidewalk along Tall Pines Drive to Main Street. The final sidewalk will be added to Fair Street between Mollison Way and College Street.
“There are some roads where we just don’t have room to add a complete sidewalk, but we are doing everything we can within a reasonable scope for pedestrians and bicyclists,” Burnham said.
View Greenway Project in a larger map
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Comments are no longer available on this story