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Greenbelt Walkway improvements continue - from
the May 10, 2002 South Portland/Cape Elizabeth Sentry, on line edition
at www.SouthPortlandSentry.com
The new section, which is actually a redesign and enhancement of an existing dirt trail, extends through a wooded area behind A.J. Kennedy’s market near the intersection of Broadway and Evans streets all the way to the future site of the city’s 145-acre Wainwright Athletic Complex off Highland Avenue. "Almost to the Scarborough town line," noted John Andrews, president of the Saco-based Eastern Trail Alliance, a group that is looking to secure trail easements from Kittery to South Portland in an effort to construct a small section of the national East Coast Greenway (ECG) project, a bicycle and pedestrian trail system extending from Calais, Maine, to Key West, Florida. "Using city staff and donated gravels from Maietta Construction, we only spent about $22 in city money, for grade stakes," said Gailey. "And we built about 2,000 feet of trail between the capped landfill and the athletic complex during the month of December." Gailey said that much of the work on the new section was done in conjunction with a Sewer Maintenance Department project that coincidentally ran along a portion of the trail along Barberry Creek, a situation which led to additional savings on the project. "Our sewer guys were willing to help us out and install gravels while working on their own maintenance project," said Gailey, adding that these workers, in conjunction with Parks Department employees, were also responsible for clearing trees and brush and laying the groundwork for most of the new trail section. One portion of the new trail cuts through the city’s closed landfill area. "Capped" by the city a few years ago, it is located behind the South Portland Transfer Station on Highland Avenue. Creating the portion of trail running through the former landfill was possible, Gailey said, only because of prior planning and design by the Engineering Department. "The landfill was originally designed so there could be access for a future trail," Gailey said. "Two separate caps Gailey said recycled "asphalt grindings" gathered during summer Public Works road resurfacing projects were used by city workers to serve as a temporary trail base until funding can be secured to pave the two-mile pathway, as well as a parking area for approximately eight to 12 cars at the trail head behind A.J. Kennedy’s. That funding, Gailey hopes, will come from a $250,000 grant request he submitted on May 8 to the Eastern Trail Management District, a group of trustees assembled to represent the 11 towns between Kittery and South Portland that the trail will ultimately traverse. Gailey said that construction of the first half-mile of the new section was funded through two grants and a small amount of city capital improvement funds, but that the remaining 1.5 miles is presently not funded, and any labor that can be done in the meantime by city crews results in saving money in the future. If the cost estimate which Gailey presented to the ETMD on Wednesday is accepted, it will be part of the group’s overall grant request for 2004/2005 federal and state transportation money. "But I probably won’t receive an answer (from the ETMD) until January or February, 2003," said Gailey, who represents South Portland as one of the trustees of the ETMD. In the meantime, he said city workers will complete some minor work on the new trail section this month and then resume work in December, after higher-priority summer and fall projects are completed and there is more staff availability. "You can do a lot of work at a low cost when you use the city forces that we have," Gailey said. |
South Portland Walkway Improvements Continue 
By using city workers to drastically reduce construction costs, the City of South Portland has managed to continue improving its Greenbelt Walkway system over the winter, and it plans to further resume work this month on a new two-mile stretch, according to Planning
Department Site Planner James Gailey.