HOULTON – Plans by the state Department of Transportation to spend more than $7.8 million on Route 1 between Houlton and Topsfield is good news for people who have lobbied for the project over the past two years.

“It’s a great step in the right direction,” said Peter Chase of Houlton, chairman of the Route 1 South Corridor Committee, which has pushed DOT to fix the road. The route serves as the only major highway link between Aroostook and Washington counties.

Chase said that although the project isn’t as extensive as the committee had initially hoped, at $12 million, they realized such a project wouldn’t be possible all at once.

“The $8 million is a huge step in the right direction,” he said Friday.

Since 1998, the DOT has spent about $1 million doing work ranging from resurfacing to reconstruction along the road.

The latest proposal, which is included in the department’s Biennial Transportation Improvement Program for 2002 and 2003, includes major highway resurfacing on more than 15 miles of Route 1 between Orient and Cary Plantation at a cost of $3,797,500. It includes grinding off some of the old pavement and resurfacing, as well as improvements and upgrades to drainage and other safety improvements, such as guardrails.

The most critical section of the road is in Washington County, between Danforth and Topsfield, where Route 1 winds through the woods, over hills and around sharp corners. Portions of that section haven’t been rebuilt since the late 1920s. There’s even a tree stump that pokes through the pavement during mud season.

Additional highway improvements on that 21-mile section will cost $3,913,000 and will include resurfacing, and major reconstruction of a 9.5 miles portion.

Chase credits a concerted effort by the corridor committee and residents in towns along Route 1 with convincing the state that Route 1 needed work.

Route 1 north of Danforth is part of the national highway system and is classified as a major collector road, which gives it a higher priority designation for repairs. The section south of Danforth, however, is only classified as a minor rural collector road. The lower designation brings in less federal highway money.

State officials had to be shown that the entire road was important, not just half of it.

In addition, Regional Transportation Advisory Committee 1, which covers Aroostook County, ranked its portion of Route 1 as the No. 3 priority project for the region.

RTAC 2, which serves Washington and Hancock counties, rated its portion of the road from Danforth to Topsfield lower.

“With no local representation on that committee … they didn’t understand the importance [of that section] or the pathetic shape it’s in,” said Chase.

Local people attended RTAC 2 meetings to make their case, which Chase feels was a factor in getting the Washington County section of Route 1 listed in the 2002-2003 state projects.

“It was a great group effort to get something done for Aroostook County and Washington County,” he said.

Neither the Route 1 project nor any of the other DOT projects listed in the BTIP list is a done deal.

“The reality check in the whole process is funding approval,” DOT Commissioner John Melrose said last week when details of the 2002-2003 BTIP were released.

The state’s General Fund bond issue, he said, will provide money for highway reconstruction, while the department’s highway fund budget is needed to support paving efforts.

“We need all of the funding pieces to deliver the full set of proposed improvements,” Melrose said.

Chase said even with the upbeat news from the DOT that the Route 1 project will be addressed, his group plans to continue to push to make sure the remaining sections of the road in Orient and Amity also are fixed.

Last resurfaced in 1993, the 7.5-mile section is marked for repaving in 2002-2003 as a “holding action” until more extensive repairs can be made, according to the 2002-2003 project report.