Dover-Foxcroft Select Board recommends naming forthcoming East Main Street bridge for Merrill brothers

DOVER-FOXCROFT — The forthcoming replacement East Main Street bridge will likely be named in honor of a pair of Dover-Foxcroft brothers who both died in service of their country in a World War II prisoner of war camp.

The Dover-Foxcroft Select Board recommended naming the forthcoming bridge for Pvt. Willard D. Merrill and Pvt. Barton G. Merrill Jr. during a Monday evening meeting. Bridge naming is done by the Maine Legislature after input from the Maine Department of Transportation but first approval is needed by the local town government. Resident Dave Lewis is working with area representatives in Augusta on this.

Last month a funeral service was held at the Vaughn Road cemetery as Willard Merrill was laid to rest.

Merrill, who was 21 when he died, was among the U.S. and Filipino soldiers captured by the Japanese Imperial Army after the surrender of the Bataan Peninsula on April 9, 1942.

After his capture Merrill was one of 78,000 prisoners who endured the 65-mile Bataan Death March, which began the next day. Thousands of prisoners died during the march.

Merrill was held at the Cabanatuan POW camp, where he died on Nov. 14, 1942, and was buried in a common grave, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency said.

Despite several efforts over the years, his remains were not identified until recently. They were flown back to Logan Airport in Boston where a three-state police escort to Dover-Foxcroft began.

The Merrill family had three brothers go to war and only one returned. Willard and Barton Merrill Jr. joined the U.S. Army Air Corps together, fought side by side, survived the Bataan Death March in the spring of 1942 and died a day apart in a Japanese POW camp later that year. Barton Merrill Jr.’s remains were identified and he is buried in Manilla.

The family is hoping Barton Merrill Jr. can also be brought home to join his brothers.

Bridge replacement is in the very beginning stages. Engineering studies will start soon and survey work is set for later in the year. 

A new bridge would be in place in three or four years at the earliest. Construction would need to be coordinated with removal of the nearby Mayo Mill Dam. 

Further down the river the Essex Street bridge replacement project is underway, and plans are being developed to have the overpass honor all veterans. Work is well into the final design phase which should be done in late August, Maine Department of Transportation Senior Project Manager Michael Wight said.

The bridge will be closed during construction and detours will need to be put in place — these will be signed by the middle of August — for the work over a year and a half to two years. Routes around Essex Street include Summer Street and Fairview Avenue and the Vaughn Road and outer Essex Street.

Elm, Cedar and Maple streets between the Vaughn Road and Essex Street will not be official detours and possibly signs could be erected saying the travelways are closed to all but local traffic.

“We might need to have that in our back pocket if it becomes a problem,” Select Chair Steve Grammont said. The town would need an ordinance to enforce this.

Two small bridges, neither overpass is too noticeable to drivers passing through, will be replaced in the next several years, Wight said. One is over Hanson Brook on Route 7.

“The reason we’re here is the bridge condition, it was built in 1930,” he said.

The $2.5 million project would be split 80/20 percent between federal and state funding. The work could be done in either the summer of 2027 or 2028

The road would only need to be closed for 30 days. Detours could be over nearby town roads, but Wight said the state is recommending using Route 23 in Dexter to go north to Sangerville and Guilford and then east to Dover-Foxcroft. The route is nearly 18 additional miles and would take an estimated 24 minutes to drive.

“The state route can accommodate the additional traffic,” Wight said, instead of the 3,000 daily vehicles going over Dover-Foxcroft travelways.
 

The other small bridge in need of replacement is over Davee Brook on Route 153/Greeley’s Landing Road.

“This is an older bridge, built in 1940, so it’s 85 years old and we’re here because it’s in poor condition,” Wight said, mentioning corrosion on the culvert.

The Davee Brook bridge replacement would also take about 30 days, but detours could only be over town roads. Options are either stretches of the Foxcroft Center Road and Bolton Road — 2.1 extra miles for about three minutes — or an additional 1.4 miles or three minutes to take Park Street, the Dawes Road and Holmes Road compared to driving through Route 153.

“I don’t have a good state route as an option,” Wight said. “It’s either use local roads or an expensive on-site detour.”

A single lane detour would add about $500,000 to the project, which also could be done in the summer of 2027 or 2028.

The select board will discuss the preferred detour routes and make a decision.

“On a positive note, we are getting a lot of things done,” Grammont said.

Paving work will also be carried out on a stretch of the Bear Hill Road and the Landfill Road as a $355,370 bid from Roundy’s Paving was accepted.

The Bear Hill Road paving will be from the intersection of the Board Eddy Road to the Bryant Road, Town Manager Alsina Brenenstuhl said. The Landfill Road paving is set for from Summer Street to the transfer station.

This stretch has likely drawn the most complaints over time, Brenenstuhl said.

In her report the town manager said The Nature Conservancy and Atlantic Salmon Federation have submitted a draft agreement with the town concerning planning for the demolition of the Mayo Mill Dam. The document is being reviewed by Brenenstuhl, the select board and town’s attorney. It is anticipated to be finalized for the Aug. 25 select board meeting.

At the June referendum residents voted down authorizing the select board to borrow up to $9 million for the retention and repair of the dam via a 659-297 count.

The $9 million price tag would have been spread out across 25 years, with a 5 percent interest rate, putting the project cost at $14,107,600, including the $5,107,600 in interest. The projected annual cost would have been $664,000.

Leaving the dam as it is was not an option. The structure was obtained by the town after a mill closure in 2007 and it hasn’t complied with federal regulations for over a decade. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission cited multiple structural deficiencies in a recent study.

Retrofitting the dam and using it for hydroelectric power were deemed too expensive.

The town is working with The Nature Conservancy and Atlantic Salmon Federation to start planning the demolition. The organizations are helping the town write grants and receive funding for the demolition.

A start date for the demolition has not been set, but it will not begin this year. The first step of the process is removing a v-shaped notch from the dam to allow more water to flow and prepare the banks and vegetation for the demolition.

The demolition process will take two years.

Construction began the week prior on Autumn Avenue, Breenstuhl said. The U.S. Army Corps notified the town about permit clearance and Gordon Contracting was great about fitting in the project to be completed before the start of school in late August.

One on one meetings with Brenenstuhl can be scheduled directly through the town website at https://dover-foxcroft.org/. 

“Whereever you see m name on the website you can click and schedule a block,” she said about the 15-minute sessions which can be in person or online via Zoom or Teams.

For those less comfortable with online scheduling, the front office is happy to assist. This process is intended to help better manage office time while meeting the needs of the public. 

The previous Wednesday Brenenstuhl spent much of her day in meetings, and she said she learned about the community while hearing different perspectives.

EV chargers installed in the lower Monument Square lot will be activated soon following final inspections. Once online, these will appear on EV charging apps with payment services provided through ChargePoint. 

The charging price is 33 cents per kilowatt. 

“We will be making a slight profit on that,” Brenenstuhl said.