Bangor, Brewer councils discuss painting bridge

BANGOR – Painting the Joshua Chamberlain Bridge, which ties together the sister cities of Bangor and Brewer, and connecting riverfront walking paths are two projects the municipalities could work together on, leaders from the two cities said Wednesday.

“We need to make that bridge a historical connection between the two cities,” Brewer Mayor Michael Celli said at a joint breakfast meeting of the Bangor and Brewer city councils.

Bangor’s Heritage Trail eventually will tie its waterfront development to downtown, and Brewer’s waterfront trail eventually will run the length of the Penobscot River between the three bridges that cross the river. Brewer’s trail also will connect to several other trails in the city when finished.

Connecting the two walking paths with each other “is a wonderful idea,” Bangor Councilor Annie Allen said. “The problem comes back to the bridge.”

The two communities worked together to install the antique-looking light poles on the bridge, at a cost of $50,000 from each city, and officials brainstormed Wednesday on how to make the bridge more attractive to pedestrians.

Widening the walkway, installing historical plaques and adding stairs at each end of the bridge to connect to the redeveloped waterfronts were ideas tossed around Wednesday.

Leaders from both communities said painting the bridge also should be a high priority.

“We both identified that during our waterfront development planning process,” Brewer Economic Development Director Drew Sachs said later Wednesday.

The bridge is on a Maine Department of Transportation repainting schedule, but it will be years before it will see new paint, Bangor Mayor Dan Tremble said during the breakfast.

Bangor was surprised at the $2.8 million price tag, supplied by the DOT, to paint the bridge, and started researching the possibility of getting the bridge painted locally for less, Tremble said.

“It just seemed like that was a lot of money,” Bangor City Engineer Jim Ring said. “It’s [the bridge] getting really bad. Certainly, if it isn’t protected, it will degrade.”

The majority of the cost comes from the fact that the existing paint is lead-based and would need to be covered while removed so none would fall into the Penobscot River.

“It’s fairly involved,” Ring said. “You just can’t use a paintbrush.”

To begin the meeting, Celli pointed out that the two municipalities signed an agreement Oct. 9, 2002, to work together to identify issues that both cities face and to work collaboratively toward resolving regional problems.

“Folks: shame on us,” he said. “There are so many important ways that we can work together. We certainly have not done our jobs.”

After the meeting, Brewer Assistant City Manager Howard Kroll said it’s true the full councils have not met for more than a year, but the cities do work together.

“We’ve made joint purchases with Bangor, and last year we saved a large amount of money” by purchasing oil as a joint venture, Kroll said.

City leaders also have discussed collaborating for curbside trash pickup, because contracts for both communities expire June 30, 2005.

Bangor and Brewer are in continual communication with each other and work together often, Kroll said.

“They’ve been very cooperative,” he said. “I look forward to continuing that relationship.”