SACO/BIDDEFORD — City officials from both Saco and Biddeford, as well as other notables, gathered together Saturday morning to celebrate a pedestrian bridge that joins the two cities and allows safe passage over the river.

The RiverWalk Bridge was completed last year and cost nearly $709,000 to build. Eighty percent of the funding came from a Maine Department of Transportation grant and both Biddeford and Saco each contributed nearly $71,000.

“We are here to celebrate today … two neighboring cities that have become an economic engine for the southern part of our state,” said Gov. Paul LePage, who led the lineup of speakers.

LePage spoke of the revi- talization in his hometown of Lewiston and recent economic growth of the Saco and Biddeford area. The cities of Lewiston and Auburn, separated by a river, were much like the cities of Saco and Biddeford, he said.

“This is a wonderful piece of urban planning,” said LePage of the pedestrian bridge, noting what two cities can do when they work together and think outside the box.

“The bridge that you see behind us … is more than connecting two towns, it’s one vision. This area has become one vision for economic development and future prosperity for the people in Biddeford/Saco,” said LePage. “It may be two cities, but its one community.”

Claude Morin, mayor of Saint-Georges, Quebec, Biddeford’s sister city, said his city had gone through a similar project to build pedestrian bridges to connect two sides of a community separated by a river.

“I tell you, since that time, Saint-Georges has never been the same,” he said.

Saco Mayor Don Pilon and Biddeford Mayor Alan Casavant read a proclamation acknowledging the pedestrian bridge and collaborative efforts between the two cities.

Cathy Goodwin, York County representative of Sen. Susan Collins office said often, as people drive across the river between the two cities, they don’t take the time to notice what’s around them. The RiverWalk pedestrian bridge offers a different option.

“It begs us to stop, and walk and look and listen,” she said, and take time to ponder the history of the mill complexes and hear the roar of the mighty Saco River.

“It is majestic, it is special, and it is yours,” she said.

— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 325 or [email protected].