Skowhegan eyes rafting project to boost coffers

SKOWHEGAN – A feasibility study delivered this week to Skowhegan’s Run of the River Committee showed organizers that a white-water rafting course in the downtown gorge of the Kennebec River not only is a good idea, but also is economically and environmentally feasible.

The town-owned and operated project could bring $2 million in new retail activity to downtown merchants during its first summer of operation, Committee Chairman Greg Dore said Thursday. And that isn’t even taking into consideration the boom that could happen if the park is up and running in time to be a training ground for 2012 Olympic athletes.

The Run of the River project also will help move Skowhegan from a manufacturing-based economy to a tourism-focused economy.

“What this could do for Skowhegan and the area is just unbelievable,” Dore said.

“We just got the feasibility study yesterday,” he said. “It was so positive.” The study was completed by Kleinschmidt Associates of Pittsfield, which specialize in energy and water resources.

“The area has proved good for three or more feature locations in the river. The geographic studies look like it’s going to be OK to proceed,” he said.

Dore is heading a 15-member committee that will structure the direction, funding and operations of the park. He said the Olympic-sized park would serve the recreation and training needs of tourists, kayakers and canoeists.

“The river is wide enough to serve all,” he said, including fishing enthusiasts.

The structures would allow for an Olympic quality course, with a slalom course on one side. The center of the river would remain relatively flat.

He said the Run of the River park would begin at the walking bridge in downtown Skowhegan and continue through to the eddy on Route 2. An exit point will be created at the eddy.

Dore said that studies of the river bed indicate that more than enough ledge exists to attach structures to. “We would place make-believe boulders in the river to create Class 3 and Class 5 white-water conditions and also channel the river flow,” he said.

He said the river would be put back to nearly its original condition after ledge was blasted in the 1900s so logs would flow more freely.

“The gorge here is part of the lifeblood of Skowhegan, the entire reason the town exists,” Dore said. “This project will make us a destination.”

Dore said it also could push the probability of a new bridge even closer. The bridge is being contemplated for Route 2 just east of the eddy to circumvent the downtown, which has experienced major traffic difficulties for decades. The convergence of Route 2 and Route 201 is complicated by a flat-iron island of business buildings around which the routes are one-way.

Already 22,000 vehicles pass through downtown daily, and Dore said the project could add another 8,000.

Opponents of the third Kennebec bridge at Skowhegan have voiced their fears that downtown Skowhegan would suffer if traffic is diverted around the area. “This project would cure that problem,” Dore said. “We would be a major destination for athletes and tourists.”

The town has requested $1.5 million in federal grant funding, money that Dore said would be augmented by local support. He said the feasibility study was funded by local money and a $10,000 grant from Maine Community Foundation.

The next steps are completion of an economic development study, creation of a preliminary design and the development of a complete model of the hydraulics that will be used, such as weirs, to regulate water flow.

Dore said preliminary work on the project could begin as early as next summer.