CARIBOU, Maine — Caribou City Councilors discussed potentially taking over the River Road repair project after a contracted firm completes designs and borings, however no action was taken during their July 22 meeting.
The River Road was shut down on April 29 of last year due to significant damage caused by rain and runoff. Since then councilors purchased homes along the damaged portion of the road. The Caribou Public Works Department recently demolished these properties. City officials also hired the engineering firm, who last year presented four options for fixing the road, with total costs ranging from $1.2 to $2.6 million.
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- The Caribou Public Works Department has filled in a portion of the River Road that began to sink into the Aroostook River last year and installed jersey barriers over this area to protect motorists. (Chris Bouchard)
Councilors chose the $1.2 million option, which involves moving the road east, away from the river.
Exactly one year after the River Road was first closed off, contracted engineers at Dubois & King found that the problem was worse than anticipated as cracks began appearing on the east side of the road. Public Works Director Dave Ouellette also informed councilors at this time that the new cracks would pose a threat if the city decided to go through with their original plan of moving the road east.
At the council’s July 22 meeting, City Manager Dennis Marker suggested allowing the firm to conduct additional borings along the damaged area in order to obtain a truer idea of damage and how it can be repaired, and then to have the city take over the project once Dubois & King’s designs are complete.
So far, the city has paid the firm $143,685 for two phases of work, with the first phase involving the initial investigation and presentation of solutions and second involving tasks ranging from the presentation of final designs and help with bidding services along with construction management and testing services.
According to Marker, the total city obligation for these two phases is $178,902, however some of the tasks have not started yet such as bidding and construction services.
Altogether, Marker told the council that the city has spent $371,777 on the River Road since these issues were found. A portion of this total — $218,844 — was spent on purchasing land and relocating homeowners. He added that this total “does not include staff time, equipment or materials used toward this project.”
Councilor Joan Theriault praised the work of city employees during the meeting.
“If you haven’t been out there to take a look,” she said, “the work that Dave and his crew have done out there is phenomenal. Those three houses are gone. The trees are gone, and it’s all smoothed over. It a whole different place out there now.”
Theriault suggested that any councilors who haven’t seen their work drive by and look for themselves. She said there is now “plenty of room for cars to pull over” through a section of the road that was reduced to one lane due to jersey barriers preventing motorists from traveling over the unstable portion of the road.
“That crew, I’ve got to tell you, we’re very lucky to have them,” she said, adding that she felt the city should take their time in transitioning the road as “everybody’s so happy with the way it is now.”
Marker said the council could ask Ouellette to move the road 20 feet farther from the current design plan, and then request that the change be implemented into the firm’s final project design.
Mayor Mark Goughan asked if the firm needed an answer that night, adding that he would prefer to consider the city’s options a bit longer.
“This is just my opinion,” Goughan said, “but I wouldn’t limit it to 20 feet. I’d say move it as far away from that bank as you can.”
Marker suggested getting in touch with the engineers, letting them know the city’s plan to move the road farther away from the river, asking them to do the additional borings, and also to not add any more money to the contract beyond the agreed maximum.
Before councilors moved to the next agenda item, Marker suggested revisiting the topic during the council’s next scheduled meeting.
