2-wheeling tourists wanted in St. Agatha

ST. AGATHA – Officials in this lakeside town are looking beyond traditional traffic issues, hoping to bring a new kind of tourist to the area – the two-wheeled kind.

For the past seven months a committee of municipal officers and community members has met to hammer out a plan to transform St. Agatha into a bicycle and pedestrian-friendly travel destination.

It’s a plan committee members know won’t happen overnight or come cheaply. “We know any [cycling] route or path we choose will cost a lot of money,” Ryan Pelletier, the town manager, said over the weekend. “But we hope the project has an ‘if you build it, they will come’ mystique about it.”

The six-member committee has zeroed in on a scenic four-mile stretch of the Cleveland Road running from the intersection with Route 162 around Long Lake to the Madawaska town line, Pelletier said.

The plan is to create 6-foot-wide shoulders on either side of the road for bicycle and foot traffic. A plan the town manager said carries a $3 million price tag: “That is more money than the town has.”

“Shoulders on the sides of the roads in St. Agatha and in Aroostook County are scarce,” Pelletier said. “There is also a dangerous, sharp curve on Cleveland Road at the [St. Agatha-Madawaska] town line.”

Funding for the project could come from Maine Department of Transportation grants, Pelletier said.

“There is a July 1 deadline for [DOT] grant applications,” he said. “The committee chose to study the route some more and will probably apply for a grant before the July 2003 deadline.”

DOT is already involved in the town’s bicycling and pedestrian lane planning through its regional transportation committee, Pelletier said.

Any changes or improvements to Cleveland Road would also mesh with the town’s existing comprehensive plan, Pelletier said, which called for widening the road and straightening the dangerous curve.

The project could tie in with a DOT plan to improve and resurface the road, Pelletier said, leaving the town to pick up the cost of the shoulder work only.

“This would be considerably less than the overall $3 million,” he said.

Attracting cycling and other low-impact activities to the area makes good economic sense, Pelletier said.

“These things are not damaging to the environment and non-polluting,” he said. “Plus, the people sooner or later need to stop and buy water or food. This is economic development on a small scale but it’s the kind St. Agatha needs.”