Is bridge solution afoot?

In the 10 years since then, Mattison has heard calls to tear down the bridge, seen moves to save it, and participated in an almost unending debate about whether the structure is worthy of being repaired.

Through it all, the steel-truss bridge, which was built in 1894 and leads to Riverway Park, has remained closed to the public, as it has since 1976.

But giving up and letting the bridge fall by the wayside has not been an option for Mattison and other members of the Friends of the Carlton Street Footbridge, even though some people in town say it would be infrequently used and spending money to restore it would be a waste, and question its historical importance.

Now, however, Mattison’s decade of perseverance might finally be about to pay off.

On Nov. 17, Brookline’s Town Meeting will be voting on whether to authorize $1.4 million for the bridge’s restoration.

Combined with pressure from the state to get the footbridge completed, activists such as Mattison say, the impending vote gives them hope that their efforts will prevail, funding will be approved, and the restoration will begin.

“It really does do my heart good,’’ Mattison said. “This really is a victory.’’

But the opposition has not disappeared.

Fred Lebow, a former Town Meeting member from Precinct 1, which includes the bridge’s location at Carlton and Colchester streets, said there is no foot traffic in the area, and no one will use the bridge if it is reopened.

“It’s a ridiculous project,’’ said Lebow, who is a member of the town’s Advisory Board. “It’s a total waste of money for the town.’’

State officials are pressuring Brookline to move forward with the footbridge in conjunction with a $91 million restoration project for the Muddy River, which runs from Jamaica Plain to the Charles River. The Muddy River project, largely funded by the US Army Corps of Engineers, the state, and Boston, will tackle flood-control and water quality issues for the waterway, and help restore portions of the Emerald Necklace series of parks designed by celebrated landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted.

Nancy Daly, chairwoman of Brookline’s Board of Selectmen, said the state’s Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs told the town in the spring to move forward with the footbridge or it would pull the plug on the entire Muddy River project.

“There has certainly been a great deal of political pressure brought to bear on the town,’’ she said.

The pressure could overwhelm opposition from neighbors who say the footbridge has no particular importance, pointing out that it was designed by Alexis French, Brookline’s first town engineer, rather than by Olmsted.

“The historical significance of that bridge is a total zero,’’ said Pam Zelnick, who lives on Carlton Street next to the bridge, and said she would also support restoring the span if it had been designed by Olmsted.

But Mattison said that the footbridge sits at an entrance to Riverway Park, which is part of Olmsted’s Emerald Necklace, and restoring it would bring people back.

“The bridge will open that park up,’’ Mattison said. “I think it will really rejuvenate it.’’

Zelnick said she will attempt to take her opposition to the floor of Town Meeting. She said she has collected 200 signatures on a petition in opposition to restoring the footbridge.

But a number of the Town Meeting members who opposed renovating the bridge, including Lebow, have lost their seats in recent years, while proponents of the project have been growing in numbers.

Robert Schram, who was elected as a Town Meeting representative for Precinct 1 in 2007, is one of the primary sponsors of the article to fund the project.

Schram said he moved to Brookline seven years ago, long after the controversy about the footbridge began. Once he realized its historical significance, he said, he began backing efforts to restore it.

All 15 Town Meeting members from his precinct are also backing the effort to restore the footbridge, he said.

“There’s a lot of momentum this time to approve this warrant article,’’ Schram said.

Lebow said that over the years, the Precinct 1 members who opposed the restoration “all got tired of being in Town Meeting,’’ and that many neighbors remain opposed to the project, despite Schram’s straw poll of his colleagues.

“The fact of the matter is, they don’t represent the precinct,’’ Lebow said of Precinct 1’s current Town Meeting members.

Questions also remain about whether the town should bring the bridge into compliance with the US Americans with Disabilities Act, which requires wheelchair ramps and other accommodations, if the restoration is approved.

Selectman Richard Benka, a member of the town’s Commission for the Disabled, said he believes the bridge should be made accessible for all visitors.

But there are concerns that installing ramps could damage the historical value of the bridge.

“Once they start putting ramps on it, it is just going to be an eyesore,’’ Zelnick said.

Benka said he also wants more assurances from the state that the Muddy River project, including the dredging of Leverett and Willow ponds in Brookline, will be completed if the footbridge is restored. To get those assurances, Benka is proposing an amendment to Town Meeting that would approve the bridge restoration on the condition that the work be done simultaneously with the Muddy River project.

Schram said he does not believe that Brookline, or any other municipality, could put those types of demands on the state, and he is worried that if the town does not move forward carefully, the restoration will be delayed again.

“It’s frustrating,’’ he said. “It’s just hard to believe that it’s taken this long.’’