PORTLAND — Baxter Boulevard reopened to motorists Monday morning after a 1.4-mile stretch of the road was closed for eight months for a sewerage project.
The city installed a new sewer and storm water system to reduce the amount of sewage discharged into Back Cove during rainstorms. Two new million-gallon tanks will store storm water and sewage until the rain stops, when it will then be pumped to the East End Treatment Plant.
Previously, polluted water was discharged into the cove.
While the boulevard was closed to traffic, neighbors and others took advantage of the project to use the roadway for recreation, prompting a proposal to close Baxter Boulevard on Sundays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. for that purpose. The City Council’s Transportation, Energy and Sustainability Committee is expected to formally take up the idea.
