HOULTON, Maine — It has been a busy summer of paving in the Shiretown thanks to three projects funded by the Maine Department of Transportation.
The three projects, covering a 5.48-mile span, being resurfaced in Houlton came at a cost of $2,356,291, paid for by MDOT. Steelstone Industries of Houlton is the contractor for the paving projects.
U.S. Route 2 (Military Street), starting at the intersection of Kendall Street, is being repaved up to White Settlement Road; U.S. Route 1 (North Street), starting at the Route 2/Kendall Street intersection and extending north to about the Tractor Supply Company has seen extensive work; and Court Street, beginning at the Houlton-Hodgdon town line and continuing two miles to the traffic light near the U.S. Post Office, is in the process of being repaved.
“The paving projects are coming along very well,” said Jon Bither, Northern region project manager for MDOT. “Unfortunately Steelstone Industries lost four nights of planned paving due to rain and we have had more catch basin work to do than we originally anticipated.”
Paving from Kendall Street to Smyrna Street has been taking place in the evenings due to limitations on how many lanes of traffic are available, Bither added.
As of Monday, 12 basins remained to be adjusted to grade level. The deeper re-build type catch basin work is complete, Bither said.
“Steelstone has completed base pavement layer in the high traffic intersections and once it completes the remaining catch basin work I expect the projects to come back together in good order,” Bither said. “The contractor will be completing the remaining catch basin work this week and the plan is to start surface course paving the week of Aug. 18.”
The contract completion date for paving is Oct. 1, but Bither was optimistic the projects would be completed before that date.
