Some local DOT projects will have to wait until 2016-17

By Mike Lange
Staff Writer

    AUGUSTA — The Maine Department of Transportation released its work plan last week for the next three fiscal years which included several road and bridge improvements for Piscataquis and eastern Penobscot counties.
    While some have been carried over from last year’s work plan and are scheduled to be completed this year, others will have to wait for a while.

    In Guilford, for example, the $1.7 million deck replacement for the Memorial Bridge is still on this year’s schedule. Town officials persuaded the DOT to do the work this year because of Guilford’s bicentennial celebration in 2016.
    Approximately 5,900 vehicles pass over the 60-year-old bridge on an average day. The reconstruction is expected to take 6-8 months with alternating lane closures.
    However, the pothole-plagued section of Route 150 near the Parkman-Guilford town line is earmarked for 2016-17. The estimated cost for the roadway rehabilitation is $1.4 million.
    Other major DOT projects scheduled for this year include paving 15 miles of Route 11 from Church Street in Brownville north toward Millinocket. The cost is pegged at $641,986.
    Route 23 in Dexter will get a $1.2 million “mill and fill” facelift for approximately 2.6 miles northward starting at Dam Street.
    However, the most expensive project in Dexter — reconstructing approximately 1.6 miles of Route 7 (Spring Street) for $5.5 million — isn’t slated to get underway until 2016-17.
    The replacement of the Pleasant River Bridge in Brownville, estimated at $2.7 million is also on the 2016-17 DOT budget along with a $3.8 million highway reconstruction project on Route 6 between Stagecoach Road in Sebec and Milo.
    Finally, Greenville Municipal Airport is scheduled to receive major upgrades during the next few years, but some of the money may be contingent on Federal Aviation Administration and state funds.
    For this year, $206,000 has been set aside in the DOT budget for design and permitting costs for the parallel taxiway at the airstrip.
    Actual construction of the taxiway, at an estimated cost of $2.9 million, is on the 2016 DOT work plan.
    In 2017, the airport could receive an additional $154,000 for safety and infrastructure improvements.
    Statewide, the Maine DOT has 523 capital projects on its work plan with a combined total value of $469 million, including replacement or rehabilitation of 47 bridges at a total estimated value of nearly $95 million; construction, reconstruction or rehabilitation of 108 miles of state-jurisdiction roads, at a total estimate of $122 million; and paving 252 miles of high-priority improved roads at an estimated cost of $86 million.
    For a complete list visit http://maine.gov/mdot/projects/workplan.