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A river runs through Belfast—the Passagassawakeag, or “Passy,” as the locals call it—cleaving the small city into two parts, like the hemispheres of the human brain—the larger downtown of restaurants, stores, and offices; and East Belfast, home of tourist attractions like Perry’s Nut House and Young’s Lobster Pound and most of the city’s motels.
The newly renovated Belfast Footbridge is the primary pedestrian “corpus callosum” between the city’s two halves.
Until recently, the link was fraying after years of neglect. Whole sections of the concrete bridge had broken off and fallen into the water. Though the bridge ceased to carry car traffic after the War Memorial Bridge and the Route 1 bypass were built in the 1960s, it remained popular as a fishing spot and as an easy way to walk, run, or bicycle from one side of the city to the other. But the bridge was rapidly becoming unsafe for even those uses. The city of Belfast had to make a decision.
“It was going to cost money either way,” Mayor Mike Hurley says. “It was going to be expensive to remove the bridge, and it was going to be even more expensive to repair it.” In 2004, Belfast voters, by a nearly 2–1 margin, approved a broadly worded referendum to raise money to repair the bridge. “It was a bitter pill for some people to swallow,” Hurley says. “Without a doubt, everybody who owns property in Belfast is paying a little more in taxes so we can have this link between the two sides of our community.”
It’s not the first time the citizens of Belfast have decided to bite the bullet and invest in restoring their waterfront infrastructure. This one was a bit painful, however, as the popular pedestrian bridge was closed for nearly two years during construction. (The New Hampshire firm of Vanasse Hangen Brustlin Inc. were the primary designers and engineers on the project; construction was done by CMP Constructors of Freeport.) But on September 16, 2006, the new bridge was dedicated in a 12-hour gala celebration featuring kayak races, speeches, live music, and fireworks.
The rebuilding of the 1,000-foot span, demolished down to its granite pilings and raised again, cost approximately $3.7 million. Some $2.1 million came from local property taxes; other money came from the state Department of Transportation and from federal grants.
Still more money for the project, supplying the “icing on the cake,” has been donated by supportive residents and visitors. Seventeen old-style lampposts, working replicas of the 1921 originals, line the sides of the new bridge. (For a donation of $2,000, you can sponsor one of the five lampposts that haven’t yet been snapped up. For a hundred bucks, you can put your name or the name of your organization on a brick in the walkway at the western end of the bridge. For more info, visit www.belfastbridgefund.org.)
It’s all part of an effort to incorporate the footbridge into Belfast’s Museum in the Streets, a heritage walking tour that highlights 21 points of historical interest in and around the downtown area, and on both sides of the river.
“The bridge is an extension of what Belfast is known for—the walking downtown, the old, authentic buildings,” says Shawn Stockman, coordinator of the Belfast Bridge Fund, an effort that grew out of a citizens’ group called Friends of the Bridge. Stockman explains that the original budget did not include the lampposts—nor the drawbridge over the deepest part of the channel, which will allow boats with masts to go upriver for the first time in decades. With the drawbridge, the harbormaster can and will open the drawbridge for any boat captain who requests it.
“Just make sure you have a depth sounder,” advises Hurley.
The Friends of the Bridge wanted the new, slightly narrower span to look as much like the 1921 bridge as possible. But community opinion was divided on the drawbridge. “While the drawbridge is useful, it certainly added quite a chunk to the cost,” Stockman says. “But the bridge itself is a draw, pardon the pun, for tourists.”
Hurley agrees. “To me, it was a life-or-death question for the community. It’s really united the two sides. When I see people walking across the bridge to East Belfast, they don’t stop at the other end of the bridge. They walk around and shop over there.”
The footbridge promises to become an even larger draw, with a condominium/marina project in the works at the bridge’s west end, on the site of the former Stinson’s sardine canning plant. The project has run into financial difficulties, with one developer pulling out after starting construction on the marina, but as of this writing, the city is in negotiations with a potential new owner.
When it’s done, it will be another link in Belfast’s pedestrian-friendly waterfront, which, thanks to the community’s dedication and hard work, again extends to both sides of the harbor.
“I think the bridge has made people believers,” Hurley says. “I can’t tell you the number of people I’ve talked to who said they voted against rebuilding, but have changed their minds once they’ve seen the final result.”
The newly renovated Belfast Footbridge is the primary pedestrian “corpus callosum” between the city’s two halves.
Until recently, the link was fraying after years of neglect. Whole sections of the concrete bridge had broken off and fallen into the water. Though the bridge ceased to carry car traffic after the War Memorial Bridge and the Route 1 bypass were built in the 1960s, it remained popular as a fishing spot and as an easy way to walk, run, or bicycle from one side of the city to the other. But the bridge was rapidly becoming unsafe for even those uses. The city of Belfast had to make a decision.
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“It was going to cost money either way,” Mayor Mike Hurley says. “It was going to be expensive to remove the bridge, and it was going to be even more expensive to repair it.” In 2004, Belfast voters, by a nearly 2–1 margin, approved a broadly worded referendum to raise money to repair the bridge. “It was a bitter pill for some people to swallow,” Hurley says. “Without a doubt, everybody who owns property in Belfast is paying a little more in taxes so we can have this link between the two sides of our community.”
It’s not the first time the citizens of Belfast have decided to bite the bullet and invest in restoring their waterfront infrastructure. This one was a bit painful, however, as the popular pedestrian bridge was closed for nearly two years during construction. (The New Hampshire firm of Vanasse Hangen Brustlin Inc. were the primary designers and engineers on the project; construction was done by CMP Constructors of Freeport.) But on September 16, 2006, the new bridge was dedicated in a 12-hour gala celebration featuring kayak races, speeches, live music, and fireworks.
The rebuilding of the 1,000-foot span, demolished down to its granite pilings and raised again, cost approximately $3.7 million. Some $2.1 million came from local property taxes; other money came from the state Department of Transportation and from federal grants.
Still more money for the project, supplying the “icing on the cake,” has been donated by supportive residents and visitors. Seventeen old-style lampposts, working replicas of the 1921 originals, line the sides of the new bridge. (For a donation of $2,000, you can sponsor one of the five lampposts that haven’t yet been snapped up. For a hundred bucks, you can put your name or the name of your organization on a brick in the walkway at the western end of the bridge. For more info, visit www.belfastbridgefund.org.)
It’s all part of an effort to incorporate the footbridge into Belfast’s Museum in the Streets, a heritage walking tour that highlights 21 points of historical interest in and around the downtown area, and on both sides of the river.
“The bridge is an extension of what Belfast is known for—the walking downtown, the old, authentic buildings,” says Shawn Stockman, coordinator of the Belfast Bridge Fund, an effort that grew out of a citizens’ group called Friends of the Bridge. Stockman explains that the original budget did not include the lampposts—nor the drawbridge over the deepest part of the channel, which will allow boats with masts to go upriver for the first time in decades. With the drawbridge, the harbormaster can and will open the drawbridge for any boat captain who requests it.
“Just make sure you have a depth sounder,” advises Hurley.
The Friends of the Bridge wanted the new, slightly narrower span to look as much like the 1921 bridge as possible. But community opinion was divided on the drawbridge. “While the drawbridge is useful, it certainly added quite a chunk to the cost,” Stockman says. “But the bridge itself is a draw, pardon the pun, for tourists.”
Hurley agrees. “To me, it was a life-or-death question for the community. It’s really united the two sides. When I see people walking across the bridge to East Belfast, they don’t stop at the other end of the bridge. They walk around and shop over there.”
The footbridge promises to become an even larger draw, with a condominium/marina project in the works at the bridge’s west end, on the site of the former Stinson’s sardine canning plant. The project has run into financial difficulties, with one developer pulling out after starting construction on the marina, but as of this writing, the city is in negotiations with a potential new owner.
When it’s done, it will be another link in Belfast’s pedestrian-friendly waterfront, which, thanks to the community’s dedication and hard work, again extends to both sides of the harbor.
“I think the bridge has made people believers,” Hurley says. “I can’t tell you the number of people I’ve talked to who said they voted against rebuilding, but have changed their minds once they’ve seen the final result.”
