Special to the Aroostook Republican
A public meeting, hosted by the Maine Department of Transportation, was held July 26 at the Caribou City Hall to discuss the planned rehabilitation of Hardwood Brook Bridge on U.S. Route 1 in Caribou.
Contributed photo/Donna DeLong
Extensive corrosion has caused state highway officials to plan for the repair or replacement of the culvert carrying Hardwood Brook under U.S. Route 1 in the stretch referred to by locals as Dead Man’s Gulch, about 1.5 miles north of the Caribou-Presque Isle line. A hearing on the proposed project was held July 26 at City Hall with one member of the public in attendance.
Representatives of the DOT — Stephen Bodge, project manager, bridge program; Douglas Coombs, assistant project manager; and Brent Bubar, northern region engineer — were present to listen to concerns, receive comments and answer questions from anyone with an interest in the project which is located in what locals refer to as Dead Man’s Gulch, approximately1.5 miles north of the Presque Isle-Caribou line. Only one person from the public attended the two-hour session.
This project is slated to start next summer between July 15 and Oct. 1, when the ground is the driest and there are limited amounts of fish in the waterway. This is considered a bridge, although it does not seem to rise above the ground. The bridge features a large culvert that runs under the road to allow Hardwood Brook to flow east to the Aroostook River. The existing culvert has excessive corrosion and is rated above other projects because of its extensive damage.
The preferred option, according to DOT officials, is to fix the culvert with a slip line whereby a smaller pipe is fed through the larger one, allowing the original culvert to be repaired. This is a quicker and less expensive project with a price range of $200,000 to $400,000. One problem that has to be investigated further is whether the repair method would hamper the passage of fish under the road.
The second option would be to dig up the road to get to the damaged culvert and replace it. One problem that this option has is the traffic flow as one side of U.S. Route 1 would be blocked while work is being done. This is a major artery for Aroostook County with a lot of traffic. This would also cause the construction work to take longer and cost considerably more. Without traffic the project could be done in two to three weeks, but with the traffic this time frame goes to three months and the cost would be double.
One resident asked if the state would be taking any of her property to do the project. The landowner wanted to make sure that the project managers knew that she had a culvert on her property. Bodge thanked her for the information and said he didn’t expect any problems.
“We will have a preliminary design report by the end of August or the first of September and would like to hold another public meeting to be advertised at a later date.
