SKOWHEGAN – Support for The Run of the River, a white-water park fit for Olympic training in the Skowhegan gorge of the Kennebec River, is gaining powerful momentum.

Maine’s congressional delegation and white-water experts across the country are throwing their support behind the project, which will serve tourists, kayakers, canoeists and possibly Olympic athletes.

The white-water park will be constructed and operated by the town, and plans include the creation of viewing sites, hiking trails and plenty of man-made, Olympic-training features in the gorge.

Preliminary work could begin as early as next summer.

The project appears to quiet the fears of downtown merchants who thought Skowhegan could be left behind when a planned third bridge over the Kennebec River bypasses the downtown area.

“This project would cure that problem,” Greg Dore, Skowhegan’s road commissioner and river project chairman, said Wednesday.

“We would be a major destination for athletes and tourists,” he said.

Dore estimated the downtown could realize at least $2 million in new retail activity in the first year of the park’s operation, and that’s not taking into consideration the boom that could happen if the park is constructed in time to be a training ground for 2012 Olympic athletes.

U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe submitted a $1.2 million request for 2005 to the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior and Related Agencies. U.S. Rep. Michael Michaud also is pressing for funds through a congressional transportation bill.

In her letter of support to the ASIRA group, Snowe wrote that the river project is “a rare and commendable effort that will coordinate environmental and economic improvement, along with public health benefits.”

Dore said Wednesday that a white-water construction expert recently visited Skowhegan and raved about the location. John Anderson was an engineer on the water park in Kentucky where training events for the 1996 Olympics were held.

Anderson made several suggestions, said Dore, including the construction of a rubber dam that will allow for continuous four-foot waves.

Dore explained that the structures to be created in the river gorge would allow for an Olympic quality course with a slalom course on one side. The center of the river would remain relatively flat.

“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.

The Run of the River Committee is now searching for qualified engineering firms, which could prove difficult because of the specialized nature of the river project, said Dore.