Improvements begin for scenic byway

SULLIVAN – A new public restroom facility being built by the side of Route 1 is the first of several projects aimed at improving a stretch of highway between the Taunton River and Prospect Harbor, according to officials.

Route 1 from the Hancock-Sullivan bridge to West Gouldsboro, most of Route 186 between West Gouldsboro and Prospect Harbor, and the loop road through the Schoodic section of Acadia National Park have been designated by the state and federal governments as the Schoodic Scenic Byway. As a result, $400,000 in state and federal funds has been designated for projects that will enhance the experience of driving along the roads, according to Jim Fisher of the Hancock County Planning Commission.

Fisher said Thursday it is hoped that the public toilet facilities overlooking Long Cove in Sullivan will be completed this fall. Other planned projects include improved scenic turnouts with interpretive signs by Young’s Market in Gouldsboro and Dunbar’s Store in Sullivan – both of which face west toward Frenchman Bay and Mount Desert Island – and also could include more significant “gateway” kiosks, also with interpretive signs, at either end of the byway.

Peter Drinkwater, a Winter Harbor resident who is marketing director of the local byway committee, said Tuesday that the proposed gateway facility at the western end of the byway likely will be located by Route 1 in Hancock at the western end of the Hancock-Sullivan Bridge, overlooking the tidal Taunton River. A kiosk in the village of Prospect Harbor near the Gouldsboro town office also has been considered, Drinkwater said, and could house objects of local historical significance, such as a replica of a town-owned ship’s bell or a model of a local lighthouse.

Fisher said that the local byway committee, composed of officials and residents from towns through which the byway passes, have applied for additional grants to fund the construction of these possible gateway structures. He said he is not sure when local officials will find out whether they will get the additional byway funds, which could be split among other byways on Mount Desert Island and in western Maine.

Fisher said that, separate from the byway improvements, the state has plans to upgrade Route 1 between the Hancock village and Sumner Memorial High School in Sullivan and to the western section of Route 186, which connects Prospect Harbor and Route 1 through Winter Harbor and South Gouldsboro. This means paved shoulders of varying widths will be built along both highways, including a section of Route 186 that connects the two ends of the one-way loop road in the Schoodic section of Acadia National Park.

This section of highway has been problematic for park visitors who bike the loop road but then have to ride along the state road to get back to their starting point, according to Fisher. There have been complaints by local residents about bicycle safety along this section of road, which has sandy shoulders rather than paved ones.

“It is very significant,” Fisher said of the planned improvements to Route 186. “There is not enough room for a family kind of [bicycle] ride.”

When some of the byway enhancements could be completed depends on funding and on the planned improvements to Routes 1 and 186, Fisher said. The Prospect Harbor gateway could be put into place sooner than some of the other enhancements because it would not be affected by any road improvements, he said. Work on Route 1 improvements in Hancock are expected to get under way next summer, according to Fisher.

A possible park-and-ride facility in Winter Harbor for people who want to visit Schoodic Point in Acadia National Park also may be included in the byway improvements, Fisher said. Where such a facility may be located has not been determined, he said.