ELLSWORTH – A stretch of road with a reputation for being dangerous is getting a makeover.

This week, crews are ripping up trees along both sides of Route 1A to rebuild the roadway, which has become notorious for traffic congestion and car crashes.

The Maine Department of Transportation’s reconstruction project begins one-half mile north of the Green Lake Road in Dedham and extends about 3 1/2 miles to the area just south of where Route 1A intersects with Winkampaugh Road in Ellsworth.

Crews are starting in Ellsworth at the south end of the project and are working their way northward, said construction manager Rob Clewley.

Drivers will see tree harvesters along the roadway. Some of the trees are being loaded into a nearby chipping machine, while others are being reserved for lumber, Clewley said.

Once the area is cleared, workers will fill in areas for new utility lines, he said.

The total cost of the project is $6.29 million. Crews are installing new underground drainage cross pipes, reconstructing the existing road and the shoulders, creating new truck lanes and improving the guardrails.

The state’s contract with CPM Constructors of Freeport calls for all work to be finished by June 2006.

Route 1A is a major connection between Bangor and the Down East region. DOT estimates that traffic will increase by 40 percent in the next 20 years, to 15,150 vehicles per day.

The area also has been the site of many accidents, some of them fatal, over the years. Last October, a Milbridge man died in a single-car crash at the bottom of McGowan’s Hill. A Winter Harbor woman died last May, when her car crossed the centerline, hit a truck and caught fire.

So far, Clewley said, the construction’s impact upon traffic has been minimal. But as the project progresses, it may be necessary to alternate motorists in each direction. He asks that drivers slow down in the construction zone.

“We are trying to keep things moving all the time in both directions,” he said. “It would be safer for everyone involved if they would take the road in eight minutes instead of three.”

A public meeting on another proposed Route 1A project is scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 27 at 7 p.m. at Ellsworth City Hall.

DOT representatives will explain preliminary plans for a 3.6-mile section of Route 1A that extends from the Old Bangor Road to Ellsworth Falls.