HOULTON, Maine — It has been several years in the making, but the town of Houlton’s sidewalk project for its downtown may finally be moving closer to fruition.
The renovation project received a major boost Friday thanks to the passage of the 2022 Omnibus Appropriations bill in Congress.
The Omnibus funding package, which passed the House and Senate and awaits signing into law by President Joe Biden, includes $200,345,598 for 105 Maine projects across the state.
Included in that deal is $732,000 for the town of Houlton, which will use the money to expand the sidewalk renovation project.
“First of all, let me thank Sen. Susan Collins for her call this afternoon,” Houlton Town Manager Marian Anderson said in an email. “I am grateful that she made the time to visit with us in October to review the sidewalks in our historic downtown.”
Exactly when construction on the sidewalk project will take place remains up in the air.
The project has been rescheduled several times, with summer 2022 as the most recent targeted start of construction. That plan will depend on how quickly the federal funds make their way to the Shiretown.
“We don’t really know yet (when construction begins) because the awards have just been made and all of the funding is going to come from the various departments similar to grant programs,” said Nancy Ketch, Houlton’s economic and community development director. “So we don’t really have a new timeline.”
The sidewalk replacement project has been in the works since 2016, when the town received a $400,000 grant from the Maine Department of Transportation to improve its brick-layered sidewalks along the downtown area of Main Street and Market Square.
While the red-brick sidewalks add to the scenic downtown’s charm, the condition of many of those bricks have fallen into poor condition over the years from harsh Aroostook winters. The plan calls for the bricks to be replaced with stamped asphalt, to give the same scenic appearance without underlying structural issues resulting from laying individual bricks.
Collins visited Houlton in October, 2021 as part of a visit to her native Aroostook County and took a walking tour of Houlton to see first hand what condition the town’s sidewalks were in. At that time, Collins said that Houlton had “one of the most beautiful downtowns in Market Square, and this will allow more people to be able to walk all around.”
The brick replacements will not be the only changes occurring in Market Square as part of the project. Several crosswalks will be removed to make way for greater parking space, and a set of stairs on the west end of Market Square will be removed, emphasizing the use of ramps for better wheelchair access.
The Walkable Houlton Project will improve many of the sidewalks leading to the downtown that are also in disrepair, including those to Houlton Middle-High School, the Summit Academy and Greater Houlton Christian Academy.
In addition, the funds will be used to paint the railing on the Gateway Crossing Pedestrian Bridge, which leads into Riverfront Park and its large walking trail system.
