Saco's RiverWalk Trail - several steps closer to completion

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A Newsletter by the City of Saco, Maine	November, 2009	Return to newsletter index

Workers wrestle precast concrete steps into place on a portion of the RiverWalk Trail.

Thanks to a state grant, the RiverWalk Trail is many steps closer to completion - in fact, several of those steps are being installed this month!

Maine voters approved a Riverfront Community Development Bond in November, 2007. The application submitted by the City of Saco resulted in a grant of $50,000 specifically for the RiverWalk Trail. The funds have allowed work to go forward on the section of Trail that crosses the existing Riverfront Park.

Stairs down to river's edge - old railroad ties that were installed nearly twenty years ago -- have been removed. Three new stairways have been installed, and short sections of steps along the Trail will be completed by mid-November. The pre-cast concrete steps will allow for safe passage for RiverWalk users, something that wasn't really the case prior to this project.

Another significant improvement will be the installation of handrails along each of the stairways, and along the riverbank in sections where the Trail is at water's edge.

"The steel handrail being installed by Maine Architectural Ironworks will increase the safety of the RiverWalk Trail by a huge amount," said Jim Burnell, a Public Works employee and co-chairman of the Riverwalk Committee. "We hope members of the public will make a point of visiting the RiverWalk - we think they'll like what they see."

The initial segment of the RiverWalk Trail was completed in 2007, when personnel from the Public Works Department built 1,500 foot of the Trail stretching from the treatment plant property to just below Hall Avenue. Then, in the Fall of 2008, the Rotary Club committed a weekend to building a set of wood and stone steps, providing access from the Trail up to the end of Hall Avenue.

The River Walk Trail provides an urban connection to nature, complete with 'up close and personal' views of the Saco River. It connects Pepperell Square with Beach Street, paralleling the river as it moves down Front Street, past the public boat ramp and the Saco Yacht Club, skirts the treatment plant, then ascends a moderate slope towards a rendezvous with Hall Avenue.

The Trail is about 3,500 feet in length. A vision for the future may see the River Walk Trail continue to meander to the east, following the river and providing local residents and visitors with a first-hand experience of the river's riparian environment. And, with a similar effort under way in Biddeford, residents and visitors will be following a river walk from Saco into Biddeford, and vice versa, within the next year or two.

The Trail is designed for use by walkers, bicyclists, those pushing strollers (or pulling little red wagons!) and all those interested in experiencing the Saco River from a nearby and safe vantage point.