By Rick Wright

Staff Writer

The people have spoken.

If the Maine Department of Transportation listens, the new Veterans Memorial Bridge will include a pedestrian and bicycle path covered with colored asphalt and overlooks made of asphalt pavers.

Those were two recommendations made by a group of approximately 30 people who attended a public process workshop last week at South Portland Public Library.

The group did not recommend a color for the asphalt, and instead left that detail to the design team.

The overlooks will be spaced along the path and each will include a memorial to a branch of the U.S. military.

This was the sixth and last meeting for public input on finalizing design elements for the new bridge. It will replace the existing bridge that now connects Portland and South Portland via Route 1.

All suggestions from the meetings are passed on to the design team comprised of stakeholders plus representatives from T.Y. Lin, the lead design and engineering firm for the project.

The stakeholders are citizens, business leaders and city officials from South Portland and Portland.

Reed & Reed of Woolwich was selected as the contractor by the DOT.

Construction of the new bridge is scheduled to begin this month. The projected cost is $63 million and it is expected to be open to traffic in summer 2012. The old bridge will remain open until the new one is finished. Demolition of the old bridge is expected by December 2012.

The new bridge will be slightly higher and a little shorter than the old one. It will be built to accommodate pedestrians and bicycles as well as motorized vehicles.

“It’s a huge piece of architecture coming into our city,” said South Portland City Councilor Maxine Beecher at last week’s workshop.

The group also endorsed ideas for traffic and pedestrian railings, pier treatment and lighting.

The traffic railings, separating motorized vehicles from pedestrians and bicycles, would be built in the Wyoming style – a ranch-type look. The crash-tested fence would be made of three square rails, and the top rail would be 42 inches high.

Pedestrian railings would be built on the south side of the bridge parallel to the walking and biking path. Made of galvanized steel, they would stand 42 inches high with four round rails.

“I like it. I don’t want you to paint it because I don’t want to have to have painters out there fixing it,” Beecher said. “I vote for keeping it plain and keeping it simple.”

For the piers supporting the bridge bed, the group opted for a simple, clean finish on the concrete facings.

“I’d be concerned that the ones with a lot of grooves would collect lots of dirt over time,” said Tex Haeuser, South Portland planning director. “My sense is that a number of people in the group are looking for a smooth finish.”

To light the bridge, the group supported a plan for 14-foot high poles with LED light fixtures. The lights would be highly efficient, demand low power and be environmentally sustainable, according to Mark Johnson of SMRT, an architecture firm in Portland.

Rick Wright can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 237 or news@inthesentry.com.