HOULTON, Maine — More than 10 years ago, Gateway Crossing, the 187-foot pedestrian footbridge, opened in Market Square in Houlton to much fanfare. Since then, town officials have launched a massive campaign that has secured funding to create a park around the bridge, complete with a picnic area, a children’s playground, and fitness trails.
While the new park has survived several harsh winters over the past decade, the facade on the railings of the bridge has not, Nancy Ketch, grant writer and community development director said late last week.
Now, town officials are hoping to secure grant funding to paint the railings along the bridge and once again restore it to its former glory.
The initiative is one of the funding items included in a Land and Water Conservation Fund grant that the town is preparing, according to Ketch.
“We also have noticed that the paint is chipping off and obviously we have to do something about it,” she said. “We have people that are getting some figures together right now, and we are lucky that this came around when it did.”
Ketch said that the grant application, which is due in November, seeks federal money that flows through the state. She added that the grant proposal is part of an overall project to build public restrooms for Riverfront Park, the $75,000 cost of which is being shouldered by a local group called the Riverfront Committee.
The Riverfront Committee has been instrumental in raising the money to build the footbridge and the park. Ketch said that the upcoming grant is a one-to-one match, so whatever money is raised by the applicant would be matched by the granting agency. That money would then be used to paint the railings, pave the parking area in Riverfront Park, and upgrade the lights along the walking path so that they are LED efficient.
“We likely would not here if we received it until next spring,” she said.
