Land buys completed for phase one of Calais bridge project

CALAIS – All of the properties needed to complete phase one of the proposed Calais-St. Stephen Bridge have been acquired by the state Department of Transportation, City Manager Linda Pagels announced Friday.

The City Council on Thursday night unanimously approved a resolution to authorize the city manager to accept DOT’s offer to acquire five parcels. Those parcels along with the other five now mean the project can move forward.

During the second phase of the project, the DOT will be sending out offers to homeowners in January with the acquisition of those properties to be completed by March 2006.

In addition, the DOT along with the New Brunswick Department of Transportation have filed an application with the U.S. Coast Guard to approve the location and plans for the construction of a fixed international highway bridge across the St. Croix River.

Two bridges connect Calais with neighboring St. Stephen, New Brunswick: the downtown Ferry Point Bridge and the Milltown Bridge north of the city’s downtown area.

Construction on the $50 million project is expected to begin in the summer of 2006 in the United States. Canada also will spend up to $50 million on the project. A new two-lane limited access road from the bridge will cross through the Calais Industrial Park to connect with U.S. Route 1. Provisions also will be made for a possible future visitor information center.

The International Boundary Commission already has reviewed and approved the plan with conditions. Among the conditions: No international boundary monuments shall be damaged, disturbed or endangered by the work, and no additional objects or structures shall be placed within 10 feet of the international boundary line.

Several agencies have signed on to the project. “The project remains listed as the Department of Homeland Security’s No. 1 border priority for the entire nation,” Pagels said.

In addition to the latest developments, the project in 2002 received a “finding of no significant impact” from the Federal Highway Administration and in July a presidential permit from the U.S. State Department.

“This was the first presidential permit issued on the U.S.-Canadian border in at least 30 years,” Pagels said.

Although the city, state and federal governments are moving forward, at least one group hopes to divert the project to their town.

The Friends of Maguerrewock recently met with state and federal officials in Augusta to argue that the bridge should be built in Baileyville and away from the Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge. The group appears to have walked away empty-handed. The group has said it is concerned about the impact of a four-lane highway running through the Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge. During its planning process, the state considered three sites, including one near Route 9 in Baileyville. They chose Calais’ industrial park, about two miles from downtown.

The group said it planned to sue. “We are now in contact with an attorney who is ready, willing and able to file a lawsuit against MDOT and others if such becomes necessary and let the court decide where the third bridge should be located,” the group said in a letter. “Time alone will give us the answer as to what is next.”