HOULTON, Maine — Houlton Town Council heard a proposal on May 10 to extend the Riverfront Park walking trail beyond its three miles of scenic views of woodland and the Meduxnekeag River.
The proposed addition would see the walking trail extend near the I-95 bridge over the Meduxnekeag River, where the trail currently ends, and then go across so that people on the trail can walk on both sides of the river. The proposal was made by Gary Hagan, who developed the current trail that runs along the Meduxnekeag.
“It would come back across the Highland Avenue bridge,” Hagan said. “It would make a loop, which most hikers prefer [rather than] to go on out and back the same way.”
In order to build the extension, agreements would have to be made with eight different landowners to build the trail along the land, Hagan said. The town would also have to enter into a development agreement with Hagan to build the trail extension. The agreements of the landowners to build the trail would also be conducted with the town.
“It’s a pretty open-ended setup, because if the landowners for any reason find the trail being a problem, they can take back that permission,” Hagan said. “So it leaves the landowners a way out, and of course it leaves the town a way out too. I can’t really envision why the town would ever have a problem with it.”
Hagan said he had reached out to all eight landowners and had heard back affirmatively from all except one, although he said he was “quite certain” that they would also agree. Hagan said he was unsure of an exact timeframe for the completion of the trail, since part of it would require getting approval from the Maine Department of Transportation to build near I-95, but that the project would be completed two to three years after Maine DOT approval is granted.
Funding would come from various nonprofit organizations from the Houlton area.The last previous addition to the trail, which connected it with the Riverside Trail and created a path out by the McDonald’s on North Street, came after the town had received a $50,000 grant to do so in 2018.
Though council members raised some questions to Hagan, such as liability to landowners for accidents on the trail, council members mostly spoke positively of the new proposal.
“I’m excited,” Councillor Dan Harmon said. “It’s great to see people in town looking at new and innovative ways to go out and enjoy our local community.”
