Staff Writer 

Eight-year-old Cape Elizabeth resident Kate Gillman said she hoped the proposed Shore Road pathway would make the road safe enough for her to walk to school.

“It would be really cool to take my dog for a walk,” Gillman said during the first public hearing on the project in November. 

Last week, the Shore Road Pathway Study Committee found out each foot of Gillman’s commute could cost nearly $85.

According to a cost analysis prepared by OEST Associates, Inc., of South Portland, the grand total for the proposed Shore Road pathway to $864,000. 

“I was pleasantly surprised,” Committee Chairman Paul Thelin said. “I thought [the cost] would be at least double [the estimate].”

Most of the cost for the 10,200-foot long, five-foot wide pathway that would meander along the west, or land side, of Shore Road from Fort Williams is in basic construction costs totaling nearly $600,000, according to the estimate. Construction administration and management costs for the project, which includes wages for flaggers, road signs and other traffic calming measures, add another $60,000.

“There’s going to be excavation and paving equipment and dump trucks delivering material,” OEST Associates Engineer Paul Burbage said. “There will be traffic slow downs related to that type of activity.”

The estimate also includes nearly $100,000 for survey and design work, the permitting processes and related fees and a 15 percent, or $108,000, contingency for unexpected expenses. 

 Burbage said construction could begin next summer and it would take approximately three months to complete the pathway.

“What was once a dream is now reality within reach,” resident Rory Strunk said. “The [estimate] is within the scope of the turf field [fundraiser]. I think this will be a battle cry to people who want the pathway.”

A majority of the committee said they had expected the pathway’s price tag to be much higher and were pleased with a $864,000 estimate, but some residents are skeptical about the estimate and the project as a whole.

“Whoever would build that road for that amount should be building our town roads,” resident Laurel Moris said. “I don’t think [the pathway] is a good idea. I wouldn’t support it if somebody said they would do it for free.”

Paul Bulger, a resident and spokesman for the Shore Road Preservation Committee – a group that has opposed the project since November – said he also thought the estimate was not accurate. He said costs associated with installing solar powered pedestrian crossing signs, retaining temporary grading easements, obtaining additional permits with the Department of Environmental Protection and increases in fuel prices could bring the final cost of the pathway to more than $1 million.

“Given the budget that they had, the engineers have gone above and beyond in the call of duty. Their survey work was brilliant, but I don’t think they can come up with an accurate budget,” Bulger said. “We’re prepared to hire an outside engineering consultant to get some further input.”

According to an initial draft of the committee’s final report, the preliminary plan and estimate cost $35,000 to prepare.

“We received $28,000 from a Portland Area Comprehensive Transportation Committee grant and $7,000 came from the town roadway drainage account,” Town Planner Maureen O’Mearatold the Sentry in November.

Burbage said the cost of the project could also fluctuate with pavement costs and whether or not the Cape Elizabeth Land Trust, or CELT, would grant the town an easement for a portion of the pathway to be built in Robinson Woods. The land trust has yet to endorse or oppose the project based on concerns CELT Board President Ted Darling expressed in a letter to the committee.

“While we have been told that the impact to trees on [Robinson Woods] will be minimal, we are unclear on mitigation to sail erosion, damage to plant communities, wetlands and wildlife,” Darling wrote. “The CELT board respectfully requests that the Shore Road Path Committee provide detail in writing on the projected negative effects of [relocating the path to] the public right of way.”

Portland’s Mitchell and Associates Landscape Architects spokesperson John Mitchell said keeping the pathway on the shoulder of Shore Road along the Robinson Woods property would considerably increase construction costs and the overall timeline for the project.

“A significant amount of trees would have to be removed and we would have to excavate into the slope,” he said. “The emphasis of [the committee’s response to CELT] should be the visual impact on the front of the [Robinson Woods] property.”

O’Meara said a final draft of the committee’s report to the town council and a letter to CELT will be presented at their next meeting on March 25 before the council considers the project. Whether the council chooses to accept, reject or table the report, Bulger said he would be surprised if town officials approved using tax dollars to fund the project. Strunk said he saw the pathway as a “hybrid’ project.

“Ultimately [funding] will be a decision the council will have to ask, but infrastructure and safety issues are the priorities of any town,” Strunk said. “There are grant programs out there and certainly some of the funding could come from donations and now there’s stimulus money breathing new life into [other funding] programs. We should certainly tap those before tapping into town funds.”