FALMOUTH — The town and the Maine Department of Transportation are partnering to redevelop 11 acres of prime real estate on Route 1, and in the process will replace an overpass and ramp leading to the Maine Turnpike with a ground-level intersection.

The plans were announced Thursday by DOT Commissioner David Bernhardt and Falmouth Town Manager Nathan Poore, who said the ramp’s removal and replacement will be paid for by the developer eventually selected to build on the site.

The Route 1 development site in Falmouth, looking northeast. Courtesy of town of Falmouth

“One of the department’s goals is to support economic opportunity,” Bernhardt said in a prepared statement. “We see this partnership with Falmouth and the development community as providing not only improved safety for our customers, but also creating a prime development site that was previously unavailable.”

The parcel is located on the eastern side of Route 1, north of the intersection with Bucknam Road. The on-ramp leads to the Falmouth spur that connects to the Maine Turnpike. The clover-leaf design at that area likely dates to the 1950s or 1960s, built as part of the original construction of the turnpike, Bernhardt said.

Falmouth has invested $12 million in the Route 1 business corridor, redesigning the flow of traffic, adding sidewalks, planting trees and reconfiguring utility lines overhead and underground as a way to accelerate redevelopment of the area. Town planners envision higher-density construction, including the potential for residences to be built where parking lots or big-box stores now stand.

In exchange for a private developer agreeing to tear down the ramps and bring the spur intersection to ground level, the DOT will give the 11 acres formerly occupied by the ramp to the developer.

Poore and Bernhardt do not yet know the market value of the property, and therefore whether the cost of the ramp demolition and reconstruction is comparable to what the property would fetch on the open market. An appraisal of the land will be scheduled as part of the request-for-proposal process.

Next, the Falmouth Town Council will review the project, hold public hearings and eventually sign off on the redevelopment plan, which could occur as soon as late January or early February. Then developers would be responsible for sketching their plans for the site.

A question-and-answer session for interested developers is scheduled for Feb. 24, with proposals for a development due back to Falmouth officials by April 11. Final approval is expected by the end of 2016, with construction likely to begin in the spring of 2017.

The idea of decommissioning the ramp emerged in 2009, when the town held a community brainstorming meeting focused on the future of the Falmouth Shopping Center, which borders the development site to the south. Multiple large retail spaces have remained vacant in that shopping center, leading planners to explore options for revitalization.

Since then, developers have expressed interest in the 11-acre site, likely the largest of its kind left on Route 1 in Falmouth, Poore said.

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