WESTBROOK – A proposed Stroudwater Trail project would move one step closer to bringing Westbrook’s outlying trails into the downtown, and could eventually provide a complete loop of the Westbrook and Portland trail systems.

In cooperation with Portland Trails, the new project would expand the Stroudwater River Trail, which would effectively extend the trail across Spring Street close to Smiling Hill Farm property, and create a bridge over the Stroudwater River.

Civil engineering and feasibility studies are slated to cost about $11,900. The project will be funded by the Westbrook Recreation and Conservation Commission and Westbrook Environmental Improvement Corp.

Jaime Parker, Portland Trails’ trail manager, said Monday that the expansion would be significant, working from a recent extension of the Stroudwater Trail that brought Portland’s trails further into Westbrook. A bridge, he said, spanning the Stroudwater River, would be a first for Portland Trails, which does not yet have a bridge over either the Stroudwater or Presumpscot rivers.

“It’s a significant river, it has a pretty wide floodplain, and it would certainly be our big project for the year,” he said.

The current trail system, running behind Congress Street/County Road and to the west of Spring Street, now ends before coming to the Stroudwater River. Parker calls it an “out-and-back trail,” used by mountain bikers or employees of nearby businesses such as Unum for mid-day jogs.

On Tuesday, Parker provided a tour that started at the end of Cardinal Street, behind the Westbrook Cinemagic movie theater, and then followed a corridor of power lines onto the existing Stroudwater Trail. Snowmobile tracks lined the adjacent field, and as the path turned eastward, Parker pointed to the proposed area for the bridge spanning the river.

Another system of trails runs behind Westbrook middle and high schools, which he said could be connected following bridge construction, and eventually worked into trails running past the armory and to the skate park.

“You’re almost in town at that point,” he said. “This could be a really important link in the network.”

Parker said the connections made through the possible expansion are important in bringing trail-goers into the downtown area and vice-versa.

“It would be one of the last pieces that would link the Stroudwater trails to the Presumpscot in downtown Westbrook,” he said. “Once you start to make it more of a network and link destinations, and make it so that people can do a loop, it really becomes more functional.”

As of now, a trailhead exists going eastward from Spring Street, but expanding across the street would mean another trailhead and signage to continue to the west.

He added that once completed, Westbrook residents could even use the trails for transportation. Parker said residents who live in neighborhoods off Spring Street could use the trails to walk or bike to work downtown.

Peter Burke, a longtime member of Westbrook’s Recreation and Conservation Commission, said Monday that he’s excited to be a part of the process, and said it has been “in the works” for a while.

Burke said that inspiration for the project came after the initial Stroudwater trail expansion, when his committee and others hoped to see Smiling Hill Farm as a trail destination on the Spring Street side, as well as a connection to the trails behind Westbrook’s school property to the north, which required crossing the Stroudwater River.

“Nothing is certain yet, but we have at least begun the dialogue,” he said. “But once we have this leg in place, you will be able to walk, hike, bike, or ski in a gigantic loop from downtown Westbrook along either the Stroudwater River or Presumpscot.”

He estimated that the entire loop, including Portland’s large portion, would be roughly 16 miles. Burke said that as a mountain biker and a runner, he seeks out connections and loops such as ones that could be created with this project.

“This will be a great thing for Westbrook, for sure, but also for outdoor enthusiasts looking for urban adventures,” he said.

Burke, who is also a landscape architect, said he may lend his services to the project, but that there may not be the need for detailed design. He said he sees his contribution to the project as his support and promotion of the trail extension itself.

Parker said Monday that if civil engineering services go smoothly, the project would most likely be constructed in 2015.

However, Parker said, there will also be difficulties for the engineers to navigate, including a range of approvals needed from organizations such as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.

“It’s a river, it floods, and there’re challenges, so we want to make sure from an engineering perspective that we know what we have cut out for us,” he said.

Parker added that once the project receives necessary approvals, a capital campaign would most likely be launched to obtain money for the project’s construction.

On Tuesday, walking along the banks of the Stroudwater, Parker said he had a “pretty promising” meeting with a resident whose land abuts the proposed expansion on the northerly side of the Stroudwater River, where the bridge would connect. Without the landowner’s approval, the project would have to look upstream, which Parker said is a little more challenging to get to.

“They’re inclined to say yes. We just have to work out some of the details,” he said. “I’m optimistic we’ll make the connection.”

Jaime Parker, Portland Trails’ trail manager, stands by the Stroudwater River in Westbrook on Tuesday at a potential crossing location for a trail expansion project. The project would construct a bridge spanning the Stroudwater, and also expand another section of trail crossing Spring Street.