BATH — A new sidewalk will be added to a portion of Commercial Street in Bath in front of the freight shed as part of an agreement with the Maine Department of Transportation.
Bath councilors unanimously approved the project on Wednesday. The city is expected to pay $105,400 — or 20% — of the total $527,000 cost, which was included in the city’s 2021 tax increment financing budget. Construction is expected to take place this summer.
“This will be a small piece of the river walk,” said Peter Owen, Bath city manager. “It’s the portion along the street since we couldn’t connect the river walk on the back side of the freight shed.”
The sidewalk will run from the freight shed behind city hall to under the Route 1 Leeman Highway overpass.
“I’m sure a lot of the farmer’s market vendors will be very happy, especially when they’re in the freight shed in the winter,” said councilor Julie Ambrosino.
Representatives from Maine’s First Ship and the Bath Farmers Market, which both occupy the Bath freight shed, thanked councilors for approving the project.
“Thank you for staying the course over the last 10 years to get this thing off the ground,” Dan Sortwell, treasurer of the Bath Farmers Market, told the council.
“This project has been on the books for a long time,” said Owen.
The city designed the sidewalk in 2011 with an MeDOT grant and received funding for construction in 2013, according to Owen, but the project was stalled when the city had to obtain easements from waterfront property owners and complete right-of-way planning.
“It took forever to get all the easements along the waterfront,” said Owen. “And because of (staff) turnover, it lost momentum. I picked it up in 2017 and resubmitted costs for engineering and construction to DOT to come up with a new budget amount.”
The project is federally funded through the Federal Highway Administration.
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