ROCKLAND — Rockland officials gathered at the public landing Thursday, June 4, for a brief ribbon-cutting celebration for the walkway connecting Harbor Park with the docks afloat on the water.

This new metal gangway is more compliant with standards of the Americans with Disabilities act, according to Harbor Master Ed Glasner during the ceremony. The ramp is 80 feet in length. Handrails are at exactly the right height for ADA compliance. The ramp can hold a certain amount of weight. It has nonskid decking and transition plates and kickboards so a wheelchair can’t get stuck.

“It’s set up so that somebody who has an ADA ramp anyplace in the world will know that this has got the handrails in the same place. If you are vision impaired, you’re going to be able to use this.

“It is not perfect. Ideally, ADA compliance is to put no impediments in front of anybody. So a person who is in a wheelchair, or who is vision impaired, whatever it is, can act like a normal person.

“In this case, getting to the water, a person in a wheelchair would need help, but it’s a lot closer than anything else we’ve had before,” Glasner said.

Funded in part by a state of Maine Small Harbor Improvement Program grant and engineered by Gartley and Dorsky, the gangway was constructed by Prock Marine.

According to Glasner, the gangway used previously is 40 feet long. “This [new ramp] being 80 feet, it’s almost exactly half of the angle at low tide. What this means is that the ramp now at low tide is about what the other ramp was at half tide. It’s a lot longer, so for some people who like to run up ramps, it takes twice as long to run up it.” 

Mayor Frank Isganitis shared a few words before helping with the ribbon cutting.

Isganitis told the small crowd of how 20 years ago, the harbor was not nearly as built up and utilized as it is now. Visions of the harbor at that time included attracting the cruise industry. With the partnership of the City, the Chamber of Commerce, and the community, the cruise ship Independence, along with other vessels, floated in.

2009 brought Royal Caribbean's Jewel of the Sea, “the Jewel’s great, great grandmother was the S.S. Evangaline that was owned by Eastern Steamship Company. So, Royal Caribbean coming in 2009 was actually the company coming home a hundred years later,” Isganitis said.

“The results of that collaboration and fee schedule brought about a port development fund, which allowed for dollars to be set aside to make improvements to our harbor, the results of which is this beautiful new gangway.” 

Reach Sarah Thompson at news@penbaypilot.com.