By Nate Jones

Staff Writer 

To do it now, you’d have to run across six lanes of highway traffic, swim across a tidal creek and skirt the Portland Jetport.

Hike from South Portland’s Greenbelt to the west end of the city, that is.

If members of the West End Trails Committee and the South Portland Land Trust have their way, South Portland hikers will be able to travel west from a yet to be renovated Veterans Bridge, over Interstate-295 and Long Creek, onto Portland-Westbrook International Jetport property and eventually the Portland Trail system in Stroudwater via a new pedestrian and biking bridge. 

South Portland Conservation Commission Secretary and West End Trails Committee member Shay Bellas said it has been a long-term goal of the committee and the South Portland Land Trust to connect the Greenbelt – portions of which connect to the Eastern Trail, which extends from Kittery to Bug Light Park – with Portland’s trail system. 

“The whole goal is to promote inter-connectivity,” Bellas said. “We knew we wanted this eventually.”

Portland Trails Director Nan Cumming said the bridge could also allow Portland residents to walk across Veterans Bridge to the west side of South Portland, where they may work already and are forced to take their vehicles. 

“There are a lot of people who do it now, but they’re the really skilled bikers, the intrepid souls,” Cumming said. “Probably 10 percent of those who want to do it are actually able.”

Until recently, plans to construct a pedestrian bridge over Interstate-295 and Long Creek seemed far off, Bellas said. She said three projects; a Veterans Bridge renovation, re-engineering of Exit 4 on Interstate-295 and an expansion of the Jetport, could bring the pedestrian bridge project to fruition sooner rather than later. Together, the three projects could each incorporate pedestrian improvements to support the proposed bridge. 

“It just clicked,” she said.

Connecting the bridge to pedestrian paths already included in proposals for a renovation of Exit 4 is easier than deciding where it will land on the opposite side of Long Creek, possibly onto jetport property, Bellas said. Bellas said the Federal Aviation Administration has concerns about security and safety risks associated with incorporating a pathway into an extension of two runways, but “didn’t say ‘No.’”

“There are just challenges. Challenges that have answers,” Bellas said. “We need to find the safest, most cost effective and efficient way to do this. The last thing we would want to do was build a bridge where somebody would get hit with blowback from a jet and be thrown into the Fore River.”

Bellas said early estimates place the project in the $5 million range, funds that wouldn’t necessarily come from taxpayers. Bellas said the money could be raised from local businesses whose employees would benefit from the bridge – including National Semiconductor, Fairchild Semiconductor, Anthem, the Jetport and businesses surrounding the Maine Mall. Cumming said she was investigating the possibility of capturing federal money specifically earmarked for alternative transportation projects as well.

“The goal would be to not go after municipal money,” Bellas said.

Bellas said design and cost of the proposed bridge could change as development plans on both sides of Long Creek develop. The first step is to conduct a “route feasibility study,” she said, to ensure the project is possible before acquiring funding.

For those who prefer to drive, this project could make getting to Main Street in South Portland a little easier. Maine Department of Transportation Project Manager Edward Hanscom said there are two proposals to renovate Exit 4 to allow South Portlanders direct access to the southbound lanes of Interstate-295 and to Main Street for northbound lanes now restricted to Veterans Bridge. 

“The goal is to make it a full service interchange,” he said. 

The primary difference between the two proposals is whether or not to incorporate two roundabouts, or rotaries, to direct traffic flow. While engineers working with South Portland Planning Director Tex Haeuser have suggested roundabouts in order to avoid purchasing a Sprague Energy oil tank and provide more continuous pedestrian access, Hanscom said MDOT prefers a different route. The MDOT plan proposes a single spur off the already existing Exit 4 that would intersect with Main Street in South Portland. To accommodate the spur, a Sprague Energy oil tank would have to be purchased and removed. 

“[The roundabout plan] makes things more complicated, and puts an intersection where there isn’t one now,” Hanscom said. “Anytime you introduce an intersection you increase the potential for crashes.”

According to initial estimates, the roundabout proposal could cost $12 million, $2 million less than the MDOT proposal. Hanscom said the estimate comparison does not include the cost to purchase the Sprague oil tank, as MDOT had not yet begun to discuss the cost of purchasing the property. Calls to Sprague Energy were not returned by the Sentry deadline.

Hanscom said a final report on the project would be submitted to the planning board and city council later this month. 

   Staff Writer Nate Jones may be reached at 282-4337 ext. 233.