During the Great Depression, the construction of Veterans Memorial Bridge in Columbia helped bring western Lancaster County back from the brink of economic collapse.

Now, during the biggest economic downturn since the 1930s, the same bridge's renovation — using state and federal stimulus money — could end up doing the same.

On Thursday, residents of Columbia, Wrightsville and surrounding areas were given their first official look at plans to renovate the historic art deco bridge, which began its life as part of the original Lincoln Highway — America's first transcontinental roadway, built to stretch more than 5,800 miles across 14 states to link New York with San Francisco.

At Thursday's meeting, residents learned new details about renovations for both the bridge and its nearby travel plazas in Columbia and Wrightsville and received information about developers' plans to begin applying for funds from the state Department of Transportation and the recently passed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. "I thought the event went very, very well," Claire Storm, president of project sponsor Rivertownes PA USA, said after the meeting.

"About 25 folks stopped by to learn about the project, and we also received visits from state Senator Mike Brubaker, the mayor of Wrightsville (Dawn Lindeman), plus members of the York County Planning Commission," Storm said. "This is a historic bridge on the (National Park Service's) National Register of Historic Places, and it is probably the most recognizable structure in southcentral PA. The bridge is beautiful now … but it will be so much more beautiful when we return it back to its historic look."

Sponsored by the nonprofit group Rivertownes PA USA with the help of the state's Department of Conservation and Natural Resources through the Wrightsville-based Lancaster-York Heritage Region, the planned renovations are scheduled to move forward in three phases, according to Jonathan Pinkerton, deputy director of the LYHR.

In the first phase, he said, workers would take down the "cobra" streetlights put in during the urban renewal craze of the 1970s and install reproductions of the original art deco lights in place when the bridge first opened to traffic in September 1930.

In the second phase, renovations would concentrate on the travel plazas at either end of the bridge, with new landscaping and pedestrian walkway improvements.

In the final phase, renovations would concentrate on under-lighting each of the bridge's reinforced concrete arches as an incentive to get motorists to exit nearby Route 30 and explore downtown Columbia and Wrightsville.

At the meeting, residents learned about plans to return both large- and small-pier lanterns to the bridge, plus install plaza and obelisk lanterns on the ends of the bridge, in keeping with the original lighting designs of the 1929 blueprints.

Speaking after the presentation, Columbia Borough Council President Sandy Duncan said the most important aspect of the bridge's renovation is how it could help Columbia and Wrightsville become a destination point for visitors traveling between Amish sites in Lancaster County and Civil War attractions in Gettysburg.

"This is something that could enhance Columbia's economy and bring people in," she said Thursday.

"When the chips are down, it always seems that we return to this bridge," she said. "A revamped and renovated bridge could bring back economic revitalization through tourism, and that means an enhanced economic status and jobs."

After the design phase is finished, the project will be "shovel-ready for stimulus funds," Storm said.

Developers hope to find out more details by the end of summer, she said, and once the funds are set, bridge renovation should take between six and nine months.

"But this all depends on what kind of stimulus money we receive," Storm said. "So we're keeping our fingers crossed, you betcha."