Staff Writer
Summer is a time for travel, when families plan vacations and weather conditions are suitable for a weekend outing or just an evening drive. But to enjoy those summer trips, motorists need good roads to drive on. The Maine Department of Transportation, despite the cancellation of some summer projects due to budget cutbacks, has already begun a number of projects in Aroostook County designed to make travel safer in coming months.
“We have a bunch of projects planned. But people are struggling to understand how we (DOT) had to cut some projects when stimulus money was supposed to go for infrastructure projects, like road maintenance,” said Robert Watson, DOT, Region 5 manager, based in Presque Isle.
Watson said the difference is the stimulus money is used more for capital projects.
“That’s more like the Hamlin Route 1A work. That’s considered a capital improvement project,” he explained.
Paving, on the other hand, is considered a maintenance project.
“Paving’s not adding to the structural integrity of the roadway. Those projects are funded 100 percent by state funds,” said Watson.
Watson said it’s a “trickle down effect.”
“States get their funding through taxes — on gas, car purchases. When people buy more fuel-efficient cars, they’re not purchasing as much gas, so not as much money is coming in,” said Watson, noting that the work of road maintenance is becoming more expensive as well. “Asphalt is a petroleum-based product whose cost is affected by the market price for oil. We’re getting it from both sides.”
DOT crews have a number of projects under way throughout Aroostook County.
“We’re doing some maintenance paving this summer — were in the Old Houlton Rd. area of Bridgewater. We performed prep work on the site about a week ago, made sure ditches were cleaned out and culverts were intact. We’ll be performing work on Forest Ave. in Fort Fairfield when that’s done,” he said.
Crews will be performing work from Houlton to the Cross Lake area this summer, said Watson.
“We’re working on the Foxcroft Rd. in Houlton. We have two reconstruction projects going as well. Rt. 161 in Cross Lake is finishing up this year. And we started Rt. 163 in Castle Hill — that’s a reconstruction project. We’re doing a lot of vertical alignment there, resolving sight-distance problems, making curves a lot more gradual. There’ll be paved shoulders and drainage that goes with it when done,” said Watson.
The Rt. 163 project is the last of a number of road projects DOT has tackled in recent years.
“Everything else between Presque Isle and Ashland had been done. This will be a tremendous improvement to that corridor,” Watson said.
The two reconstruction projects, according to Watson, are federally funded.
“They’re part of our normal highway projects that are normally 80 percent federally funded, with the state covering 20 percent of the cost,” said Watson.
DOT’s list of 2009 maintenance surface treatment projects proceeding in the area include:
• A 6.14 mile section of the Framinham Rd. and Gentle Rd. in Littleton;
• A 3.94 mile section involving the Old Houlton Rd. in Blaine and Bridgewater and the Robinson Rd. in Blaine;
• A 2.09 mile section of Forest Ave. in Fort Fairfield; and
• A 1.54 mile section of Boynton St., E. Blaine Rd., in Mars Hill.
Other DOT projects expected to be completed this year include:
• Highway rehabilitation, Rt. 163, Castle Hill;
• Hot mix asphalt overlay, frost heave repairs, safety and incidental work, no route specified, Caswell and Hamlin;
• Grading, drainage, base, hot mix asphalt, guardrail and incidental work, Rt. 161, Cross Lake;
• Highway reconstruction, no route specified, Dover-Foxcroft;
• Highway rehabilitation, Rt. 1, Fort Kent;
• Bridge replacement, Hodgdon Stream, Rt. 2A, Houlton; and
• Bridge replacement, Bearsley Brook, Rt. 161, New Sweden.
Due to a lack of funding, DOT has cancelled a number of projects that were scheduled for 2009 and 2010.
Maintenance surface treatment projects cancelled for 2009 include:
• A 2.76 mile section of the Boundaryline Rd. in Hamlin; and
• A 15.15 mile section of the Grand Lake Rd. (T5-T6, R7-R8 WELS), and Shin Pond Rd. (Mount Chase).
Maintenance surface treatment projects for 2010 cancelled due to lack of funding include:
• A 1.92 mile section of E. Plantation Rd. in Blaine;
• Two sections totaling 4.73 miles of State Rt. 7 in Dover-Foxcroft;
• An 8.3 mile portion of Sly Brook Rd. between Eagle Lake, New Canada and Wallagrass;
• A 10.38 mile section of the Grimes Rd. in Caribou, N. Caribou Rd. in Fort Fairfield and North Caribou in Fort Fairfield;
• A 7.09 section of the Ludlow Rd. in Houlton;
• A 2.36 mile portion of the Belvedere Rd. between Island Falls and Crystal;
• A .68 mile section of Sewall St. in Island Falls;
• A 9.24 mile portion of the Bangor Rd. in Easton, and the W. Ridge Rd. between Easton and Mars Hill;
• A 3.2 mile section of the McBurnie Rd. in Presque Isle and W. Presque Isle Rd. in Caribou; and
• A 3.11 mile section of the Burleigh Rd. in Westfield, Easton Viner Rd. in Westfield, Mars Hill Rd. in Westfield and Westfield Rd. in Mars Hill.
For more information on DOT projects, visit www.mainedot.gov.
Staff photo/Kathy McCarty
A NUMBER OF ROAD repairs are under way in Aroostook County. DOT worked on the intersection of Old Houlton Rd. and Robinson Rd. between Bridgewater and Blaine recently. Once done there, the crew was expected to move on to Forest Ave. in Fort Fairfield.
