DOVER-FOXCROFT – The reconstruction of West Main Street, a project that has been shelved since 2002, is expected to be advertised in November and piggybacked with local water district improvements.

That’s good news for motorists who have to weave to avoid the deep potholes on the route, but not so good news to some residents who will lose their old maple trees that border the historic district.

Town officials and residents who live along the three-quarter-mile stretch of road from the four-way intersection that connects North Street, Main Street and Lincoln Street to the tennis courts met with Department of Transportation officials Wednesday to discuss the project.

The state held a preliminary hearing on the proposed reconstruction of the road in June 2002, but it received lukewarm support. At the time, town officials and businesses along West Main Street supported some improvements to the highly traveled way, but questioned the need for a reconstruction project that would negatively affect the businesses.

The state’s plan to raise the road and install granite curbing in front of some of the stores would have reduced parking and subsequently revenue, it was argued.

“There was a time [the project] was never coming back,” Ernie Martin, Maine Department of Transportation project manager, said Wednesday.

The Dover-Foxcroft Water District’s plan to install a new water main along the route and receipt of a grant and a loan revived the project, Martin said. Even though the cost of asphalt has shelved other projects around the state, this one will proceed so the grant money does not expire.

The water district received a grant and loan for the $1.097 million project. The money must be used by the 2009 construction season, according to Walter Field, chief operator of the water district. He said the plan is to put the water main replacement out to bid with the DOT’s contract for the full road reconstruction.

“I think the responsible way of doing business is to do everything at once,” Field said.

Field said residents would be asked at the November general election to allow the water district to increase its debt limit from $1.5 million to $5 million to provide for the project. That doesn’t mean the district will borrow up to the $5 million; rather, it will use just what it needs for the project, he noted.

$1.1 million to $1.2 million of the water district’s current $1.5 million debt ceiling has been used for other projects, Field explained.

Regarding the repayment of the loan, Field said if it were funded through a rate increase, the cost to the water district rate payers, divided among the approximately 1,000 accounts involved, would mean an increase of about $3 a quarter or $1 a month on average.

A public hearing on the water funding proposal will be held on Oct. 13.

Martin said the state’s project probably would include some improvements to the intersection which, he said, was in “pretty rough shape.” The proposal still includes installation of granite curbing along the route. The historic district designation restricts the design, so the travel lanes will be 11 feet wide with 6-foot shoulders, he said.

At the time of the 2002 preliminary hearing, the full reconstruction price for the three-quarter-mile section was $1.67 million per mile compared to a price today of $2.8 million per mile, according to Martin. The road reconstruction project will be funded solely by state funds. He expects construction to begin in April 2008 and be completed by Oct. 15, 2008.

Dover-Foxcroft Town Manager Jack Clukey suggested another public hearing be held this fall before the project begins, to clear up any final concerns.

dianabdn@verizon.net

876-4579