Barring any unforeseen dissension by the Lancaster County Planning Commission, Columbia Mayor Leo Lutz believes the Route 441 bypass will go forward — and with 100 percent funding by the state.

During the "Columbia — The Past as a Bridge to the Future" program, which was held Tuesday afternoon at St. John's Herr Estate in Columbia, Lutz told the residents that as of Friday the state has agreed to totally fund the $17 million bypass.

It is the number one project to get trucks out of downtown because of what they are doing to the buildings and for the safety of residents, Lutz said.

The project still needs to be approved by the county planning commission, as well as the state and federal transportation planning organizations. But, Lutz told the residents, what the county approves, the state and federal usually approve, too.

"They will have a hard time saying no now," Lutz said. He joked that if the county planning commission rejects the project, it will have the Million Columbian March on its hands.

"I think it is OK to say that it will get done by 2012," Lutz said.

Lutz also talked about the road construction that will be occurring throughout the borough over the next couple of months.

He apologized that the projects haven't happened as quickly as he had previously told the residents.

"We at the borough have learned that when we get grants from the state or federal government, there's a lot of red tape involved," Lutz said.

But now that the studies and approvals are finished, he said, "This year you'll see significant movement (in getting the projects completed)."

Among them are enhanced crossings with curb bumpouts from Walnut and Locust streets to Ironville Pike. He said eventually the whole community will have curb and sidewalk work done.

The borough also has purchased paving equipment for a comprehensive street rebuilding project, rebuilding a few roads "right from the bone" each year for the next 20 years, Lutz said.

The River Park initiative also is moving along, he said. He believes ground will be broken this year for a new boat ramp, play area and other amenities.

He also told the residents that the borough is in the process of adding parking spaces near the Market House.

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The second half of the program by Claire Storm, Columbia native and president of Rivertownes PA USA, dealt with the history of Columbia and the surrounding area.

History is one thing the county has in abundance, and Rivertownes Heritage has developed a strategy to highlight that history.

Storm said that after a showing of the Civil War film "Glory" at National Watch & Clock Museum on June 27, "Flames Across the Susquehanna" will be staged for the first time since 2003 on June 28.

The piers that held the original covered bridge will have braziers filled with cordwood lit to dramatize the time when the bridge was torched to prevent Confederate soldiers from crossing the river into Lancaster County, Storm said. The burning of the bridge turned the Confederate soldiers back to Gettysburg.

The Rivertownes organization also has installed interpretative panels at the Veterans Memorial Bridge, unofficially known as the Columbia-Wrightsville bridge. More interpretative markers regarding the Civil War are to be installed this year, she said.

Rivertownes also is spearheading a historic relighting of the Veterans Memorial Bridge. The 1930 historic lanterns were "beautiful," Storm said, but when the state modernized the bridge, the lights it installed "sometimes work, sometimes don't."

Rivertownes is "jumping through hoops" to get the new lighting and just completed the feasibility study. It's now in the design phase, producing construction documents to seek funds for the $2 million project.

The organization also is supporting a new art trail, "Pennsylvania Art Experience," which will start in York County, extend through Lancaster County and eventually go on to Delaware, she said.

E-mail: lvaningen@lnpnews.com