Staff Writer
The public will have a chance tonight to comment on a plan to build a new road between U.S. Route 1 and Route 161 during a public forum at the Caribou Performing Arts Center at 7 p.m. The three options, with estimated costs from $14.4 million to $30.9 million, for the route of the proposed new road will be discussed. Representatives from the Army Corps of Engineers and state and federal transportation officials are scheduled to attend.
The forum, which will allow for a two-way flow of information, is part of the process to build a two-lane controlled access highway to improve regional transportation by reducing travel times between the two major roads. The purpose of the new construction is to improve public safety and traffic flow in the downtown area of Caribou, according to ACE officials.
The project is part of an overall plan started in 1999 to extend the I-95 from Houlton into the St. John Valley. Since then, the project has been broken down into smaller developments, such as the Caribou connector road and a bypass around the city of Presque Isle.
The Caribou project is in the planning phase and officials are in the process of determining which of the three proposed routes would be the least environmentally damaging. State transportation officials have not selected a preferred route, while city officials plan to make their preferred route known after hearing what the public thinks about the three alternatives.
State transportation officials have studied three routes to link Routes 1 and 161. All three options begin with road improvements near the Route 1-Route 89 intersection. While one proposed new road would take off of Route 1 north of Caribou Medical Center, two would involve new construction that would parallel U.S. Route 1. New construction would proceed in a westerly direction. Two options would terminate on Route 161 near the Ogren Road, while another ends near the Caribou Country Club.
One option, the most expensive at $30.8 million, would include 5.2 miles of new construction. It would impact 15.5 acres of wetlands and cross two streams. The alternative would impact 66 farmland acres and 31 structures, including one historical property, which is a dairy barn on the Route 161 in Woodland.
Another option would include 3.7 miles of new construction at a cost of $24.2 million. The impacts include 3.4 acres of wetland and require crossing two streams, while 32 acres of farmland would be affected. A total of 18 structures, including one historic building, would be affected.
This option, commonly know as 4B, would connect with Route 161 near the Caribou Country Club and the historic McElwain’s Farmstead and Strawberry Farm. Because of the lesser amount of impacts anticipated, it may receive the most support from state transportation officials, local officials said recently.
The least expensive plan involves 2.8 miles of new construction at a cost of $14.4 million. The wetland impact would be 7.9 acres with no stream crossings required. A total of 62 acres of farmland would be impacted, while 11 structures including two historic sites, would be affected. Those sites are the dairy barn in Woodland and a farmstead and barn on the Van Buren Road.
Transportation officials are working toward selected the “least environmentally damaging practical alternative. Once a preferred route is selected, a record of decision issued and plans to actually construct the road may come to fruition.