New pathway links Rockport, Camden

ROCKPORT – Just don’t call it a sidewalk.

The newly completed pedestrian-bicycle pathway linking Camden and Rockport villages seems to be a hit with residents – though the process by which it came into being was bumpy at times.

The pathway follows Union Street, connecting the two towns which many years ago were one community.

Unlike the sidewalk it replaced, the pathway is designed to be wide enough to accommodate walkers, runners, bicyclists and baby strollers.

And since it was officially opened two weeks ago, it has seen all of the above.

In 1998, Rockport and Camden joined forces to apply for grants from the state Department of Transportation to build pathways.

The original plan was to build a path along Union Street, leaving the roadway for a stretch to follow an old railroad bed. It also called for building a path along Mechanic Street in Camden, linking the former Camden-Rockport High School on Knowlton Street to the new Camden Hills Regional High School on Route 90 in Rockport.

In 1999, the towns won a $350,000 grant for the Union Street project, and $200,000 to plan and engineer the Mechanic Street pathway. Each town matched 10 percent of the state contribution.

A committee with members from both towns was formed to oversee the work.

The early plan to follow the old railroad bed was opposed by neighbors who were worried that users might be attacked in the more remote sections and who did not want people from out of town parking on their quiet, dead-end streets to use the pathway. The plan was revised so that the entire, 0.8-mile pathway follows Union Street.

Plans for the second phase faced even stiffer opposition.

Some residents of Mechanic Street and Park Street in Camden who would lose a good deal of their front lawns to the pathway told town officials to turn down the project.

Even though the town has a 66-foot-wide right of way – adequate to build the pathway – the committee chose to return to the drawing board rather than act over the objections of neighbors.

Just last week, Rockport selectmen approved an application to the state for money for a pathway along Route 90 to the new school.

The Union Street path begins at the intersection of Huse Street, denoted by a sign, as the cement sidewalk gives way to an 8-foot asphalt expanse separated from the road by about 5 feet of grass.

Faith Vautour’s house borders the pathway.

“I think it improves the front of my yard quite a lot,” she said Saturday, even though she lost a little bit of lawn. As part of the work, telephone poles were moved from her side of the street to the other side.

“I’ve seen a lot of people use it,” she said. “I go out and get my paper, and there’s elderly ladies walking, and runners, and kids in strollers.”

Rob Stewart does not consider himself a fan of the pathway. He and his wife own an older house that sits near the road, which they plan to renovate, and they are building a new house about 30 feet away from the pathway.

“It’s right in my front door,” Stewart said. And while he does not think the project is a waste of money, “for the expense, I don’t think that it’s really worth it.”

Sue Oakes and her family are moving from a rental house to a new home in Hope. With three children, ages 9, 11 and 14, she was glad the pathway was available. The children used it to walk to Rockport and Camden villages, she said.

“From our perspective, it’s been great,” giving the children a safe place to walk and ride, Oakes said. She suggested the pathway be extended to Beauchamp Point, a quiet, rural area along Penobscot Bay.

Not coincidentally, the pathway passes the entrance to the Penobscot Bay YMCA, which is nearing completion. YMCA officials chose the site in part because the pathway would make it easy for people from the two towns to walk or bike to the center.

Heading north, the pathway skirts the Mid-Coast Solid Waste facility – a municipal trash and recycling center – but a clump of pine trees obscures some of the view. Just beyond the facility, the pathway narrows between a guardrail and a chain-link fence, where there are nice views looking down from 40 feet above a water-filled quarry.

Dee Urquhart, a nurse at Quarry Hill, used the pathway to walk home to Camden after work. She also uses it to walk to Rockport.

“I think it’s really nice,” she said. “I hope people respect it.”