renew rebuild restore rehabilitate revitalize repair revive reimagine
Why do we want to reimagine downtown?
Downtown Lewiston has major needs, both underground and above ground. The critical issues with our sewer and water systems will have to be addressed in the very near future, requiring major excavation and disruption of the current streets.
We could spend all that time and money to dig up downtown to repair the utilities and then spend the money to rebuild the pavement exactly as it was before.
Or, we could take this once-in-a-generation opportunity and rebuild our streets and sidewalks into the best possible version of our downtown. A new design that enhances what we value as a community and opens up new possibilities for the future.
The Issues
Nearly every toilet in town drains under downtown. Some of those downtown drain pipes are over one hundred years old.
Sewer
Our downtown underground utilities have been virtually unchanged since the First World War. Over the past century, Lewiston has expanded to the south and east with thousands of additional hookups draining through the original system under our downtown streets.
The system must be upsized and upgraded to handle modern loads and ensure safe, reliable service for the next one hundred years.
Water
In addition to our sewer system, the water lines under downtown are in extreme disrepair. The system is under capacity for even the current mixed-use development in our historic downtown core, with many structures unable to support much-needed fire suppression systems and additional water hookups.
We need to replace and upgrade our downtown water mains to support current and future commercial and residential use in our downtown core.
It’s time to build the downtown district our community deserves.
Historic downtown Lewiston has been the heart and soul of the valley for over 100 years. However, a long-term shift in national shopping habits combined with an outdated traffic pattern that is less than business-friendly has put our downtown core at a disadvantage.
You can build a streetscape for traffic speed, or you can built it for pedestrians, but you cannot do both. Yet somehow, our current downtown street design is underperforming at both criteria!
We have an opportunity to reimagine downtown as a destination – not just a thoroughfare – while also adjusting traffic patterns to make cross-town access easier and faster.
