LEWISTON — Last spring’s plan to build a bus wash could help kick-start work on the city’s Riverfront Island, councilors agreed Tuesday.

The City Council voted to redirect $180,000 from the unused bonds to jump-start work building trails along Lewiston’s canals, improving access to the Androscoggin River in Simard-Payne Memorial Park and installing better signs downtown.

City Administrator Ed Barrett said the bond money would cover the costs for engineering and planning needed to begin work next summer.

The master plan, written by Boston-based consulting firm Goody Clancy, was completed in April. It describes ways for the city to re-energize Lewiston’s Riverfront Island, the area between the river and Lewiston’s canals, from Island Point to Cedar Street. It includes the Bates Mill complex, as well as Simard-Payne Memorial Park, the Franco-American Heritage Center and Museum L-A.

It calls for a Lewiston Riverwalk between Cedar Street and the Bernard Lown Peace Bridge to Island Point, mirroring the path in Auburn. It also calls for a tree-lined walking path all along Lewiston’s canal system and expanded uses in the area, including more market rate housing units, more office jobs and restaurants.

Councilors in May agreed to begin planning for several of the short-term projects, including new signs, walking paths and a canal walk.

The city used $180,000 of a $900,000 federal grant to pay for the plan. Councilors agreed earlier this month to use the remaining $720,000 on physical projects — building something or purchasing property.

Barrett said the planning work needed to get ready for spring construction would cost the city about $136,000.

The unused bond funds were originally meant to pay for the local share of a large vehicle washing facility somewhere in the city.

The Lewiston-Auburn Transit Committee had hoped to build a bus wash with the help of a $900,000 Federal Transit Authority’s State of Good Repair grant. The grant’s rules would have required a $180,000 local match, and Lewiston’s councilors agreed to borrow that money.

The city didn’t get that grant, however.

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