Bar Harbor plans road repair Ledgelawn Avenue’s extensive reconstruction starts next month

BAR HARBOR – People who live on the main residential road in the village might not recognize it for the next two months.

By mid-June, however, when the planned reconstruction of Ledgelawn Avenue is expected to be complete, the street should be much improved, according to a local official.

Chip Reeves, Bar Harbor public works director, said Monday that sewer, water and storm-water systems along the street will be upgraded while the work is being done.

The main purpose of the project is to rebuild the road and the adjacent sidewalks for the entire length of the street, between Mount Desert Street and Cromwell Harbor Road.

“The surface of the road is not in good shape,” Reeves said. “There’s a lot of work to be done in that time frame.”

Reeves said the town has budgeted approximately $300,000 for the project and plans for work to get under way by mid-April. He said the town has yet to bid out the project to contractors.

Underground utilities will be upgraded while the road is being rebuilt so that the new road surface will last as long as possible, Reeves said.

“That’s why we’re doing the sewer stuff, the storm-water stuff and the water stuff,” he said. “It should be set for long after I’m [done working] here.”

The town hopes to fix leaky pipes, to eliminate old connections between the sewer and storm sewer systems, and to replace old equipment that was re-installed after an earlier utility project, according to Reeves.

Also, work crews are expected to shift a fire hydrant slightly on the corner of Ledgelawn Avenue and Pleasant Street, he said.

“It’s amazing it doesn’t get whacked [by vehicles] more often,” Reeves said of the hydrant.

People who live on Ledgelawn Avenue will be allowed to drive on the street while work is being done, the public works director said.

People who use Ledgelawn to get to the town’s transfer station or to other parts of town should find alternate routes during the reconstruction project, he said.

A public meeting on the project will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, March 31, at the Bar Harbor Municipal Building.