State proposes $57 million for County roads

MADAWASKA – A long list of transportation projects totaling $57,757,684 is proposed for Aroostook County during the next two years, if all federal and state allotments come through.

The list, which covers 16 pages in a Maine Department of Transportation Biennial Transportation Improvement Program book, involves projects that would not necessarily be done by local DOT crews in their regular maintenance effort.

The project list is for the period from July 1, 2001, to June 30, 2003.

“It’s a mishmash of projects all over the county,” Terry Hannan, assistant division engineer for the DOT’s Division 1, said Wednesday. “It involves improvement projects on collector highways, like Route 11 just south of Fort Kent, to resurfacing projects.

“The actual scheduling of the projects, which will be done this year or next, will be done next month,” Hannan said. “It’s a lot of money proposed for the next two years.”

Some projects already funded also will be done this year but are not on the list. One such project is a $3 million reconstruction of East Main Street in Madawaska to be done this summer. That project is somewhat like the project done on Main Street in Presque Isle last year, Hannan said, which was reconstruction of a major area in that city.

The list includes many resurfacing projects throughout the division. There also are major culvert replacements, in which the culverts are actually small bridges as high as 8 feet, at several sites. Although called culvert replacement projects, they are actually costly construction projects.

The program is part of the DOT’s $613 million program for transportation improvements in Maine during the next two years. Two-thirds of the money will come from federal programs and the remainder, $205 million, will come from several state funds.

“The proposed investments rely heavily on Maine receiving our full allotment of federal funds, on the funding of the highway budget by the Legislature, and one bond issue approval by Maine voters next fall,” DOT Commissioner John G. Melrose wrote in a press release.

Statewide, the program will improve 123 state and local bridges, 22 miles of arterial and collector highways, pavement protection on another 401 miles of roads and maintenance on another 1,450 miles of road. Also included is money for air, ferry, mass transit, passenger rail and freight proposals, marine and motor carrier issues and trail programs.

Major projects listed for Aroostook County during the period are:

. $5 million for a new access road in Easton to get traffic from McCain’s new $70 million potato processing plant to an intermodal site in Presque Isle.

. $4,070,000 for highway improvements on six miles of Route 159 in Island Falls.

. $3,797,500 for resurfacing nearly 16 miles of Route 1 in the area of Orient.

. $3.5 million for rail line rehabilitation for the Loring Commerce Centre.

. $3,045,000 for 1.6 miles of Route 1 improvements in the Mars Hill area.

. $3,005,000 for resurfacing on Interstate 95 in the Island Falls, Crystal and Sherman area.

. $2,690,000 for 1.6 miles of highway improvements on Route 11 in the Wallagrass-Fort Kent area.

. $2,270,000 for highway improvements on Route 1 in Presque Isle.

. $2,044,000 for highway resurfacing on Route 163 in the Castle Hill, Mapleton and Presque Isle area.

. $1,675,000 for bridge replacement over the Big Machias River in Ashland.

. $1,650,000 for resurfacing six miles of Route 2A in Macwahoc.

. $1.5 million for painting the International Bridge at Madawaska.

. $1.2 million for highway improvements on Route 1 in Van Buren.

. $1,085,000 for the Highland Avenue Bridge over the Meduxnekeag River in Houlton.

. $650,000 for bike and pedestrian off-road facilities in Houlton.

. $577,778 for runway reconstruction and safety area construction at the Northern Maine Regional Airport in Presque Isle.