HARPSWELL

It’s a sight to be seen on Harpswell’s Orr’s Island — a traffic light.

The temporary traffic signal was put up on Route 24, also known as Harpswell Islands Road — about two miles from Mountain Road — this week by Maine Department of Transportation workers as the department determines a course of action for repairing a sinkhole that developed along the east shoulder of the roadway when a three-foot culvert partially collapsed.

“We’re calling it a deep culvert replacement of one that has partially collapsed the road,” said Ted Talbot, Maine DOT press secretary, adding the purpose of the culvert was to move “water underneath the road out to a nearby pond.”

“I’m told it was installed in 1938, so it’s had its life,” he added.

With the partial collapse of the culvert, Talbot said, a sinkhole developed and partially washed away the road.

Maine DOT crews will begin “mobilizing” today, Talbot said.

“They’ll be moving equipment and setting up a staging area,” he said Wednesday afternoon. “They are going to be out there two to three weeks.”

The road repair work likely won’t start today, Talbot said, but the preparations will.

Traffic is restricted to one lane in the area where the repair will be made; it will remain that way during the time it takes to fix the roadway.

“It’s in the contract, stipulating they have to keep one lane open at all times,” Talbot said.

The temporary traffic signal will remain in place for the duration of the work.

“It may well be during construction hours that there may be flaggers out there,” Talbot said. “Otherwise, motorists will encounter the termporary traffic signal.”

The cost of the work to be performed by the Gorham-based Shaw Brothers Construction has yet to be determined, Talbot said.

“The final cost may well be determined while the project is completed,” he said.

During the repair work period, Talbot said, motorists should “use caution and allow for extra time when traveling through the work zone.”