Gorham, Standish, Westbrook and Windham are on the state’s radar screen for some costly state highway upgrades.

A $4.1 million reconstruction of Route 25 through the heart of Gorham Village will likely start in a couple months. But improvements in the bottleneck at intersections in Westbrook’s notorious rotary area won’t provide any relief to drivers this year.

And also down the road is a plan for Standish to get a roundabout to improve safety conditions at a Route 25 intersection with local roads.

The state is gearing up for the big road rehab in Gorham Village. Rob Betz, Maine Department of Transportation project manager for the Gorham project, said Tuesday he hopes that construction would start in April.

“We are just about to advertise to get a contractor on board,” Betz said.

A state-wide transportation work plan released in January includes $2.3 billion in projects with $537 million earmarked for 2017 construction jobs that include highway and bridge work.

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One, a Gorham highway rehab will run along Route 25, a heavily traveled commuter artery, from just north of the Main Street intersection with Johnson Road and through the village and up State Street to a point near the highway’s intersection with Cressey Road.

In the village, Portland Water District plans to replace century-old water mains in conjunction with the project.

Portions of an old cement highway still under the tar surface will be pulverized.

Gorham voters in a November 2015 referendum approved spending $600,000 as the town’s share of the project. It had been scheduled to begin last July but was delayed. State officials told Gorham councilors in August that several easements needed to be acquired.

Even though construction was delayed, Town Manager David Cole said recently that the town’s share shoudn’t change.

In Westbrook, intersection improvements for the so-called “rotary area” of Main Street, Cumberland Street and Harnois Avenue is slated to cost about $1.8 million. A rush-hour problem occurs at the rotary’s intersection with Warren Avenue for homeward bound drivers.

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Traffic flow improvements for the rotary are planned for 2018/2019. The Portland Area Transportation System sponsors the project.

“The biggest thing I see is the backup on Warren Avenue in the afternoon,” Westbrook Mayor Michael Sanphy said Tuesday. “It’s congested.”

Sanphy also cited a backup of inbound traffic on Cumberland Street at Harnois Avenue.

There have been numerous accidents in the rotary are, said Sanphy, who hadn’t yet seen the latest state plans for the rotary. “I’m cautiously optimistic it will work,” Sanphy said.

Projects this year on the transportation department’s work plans include a $2.5 million project for Gorham and Standish on Route 25, beginning near Wood Road in Gorham and running more than five miles.

Highway paving, costing $1.4 million, is also set for Route 114 in Gorham from just north of Route 4 and running northerly more than seven miles.

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The state this year also plans a reconstruction of a stretch of Route 35 in Standish, costing $4.5 million. The job would begin less than a mile northeast of Route 114 and extend northerly to a point less than a mile to Route 237.

For Westbrook and Windham, this year’s plans call for surface work on Route 302 from northwest of Duck Pond Road and extending 4.6 miles, costing $879,000.

Several projects are in the state’s 2018/19 work plan. They include:

In Standish, the state plans to spend more than $2 million to construct a roundabout on Route 25 at the intersection of the Manchester and Saco roads.

River Road in Windham is set for a highway rehab, costing $6.4 million. The project starts at the Westbrook city line and runs north a little more than three miles.

In Gorham and Westbrook the state will spend nearly $1 million repaving New Gorham Road, beginning at Main Street in Westbrook and running to nearly Johnson Road in Gorham.

South Street (Route 114) in Gorham will be repaved from South of Waterhouse Road to Route 202 costing, $1.4 million.

Robert Lowell can be reached at 854-2577 or rlowell@keepmecurrent.com.

A project to improve safety and ease traffic flow in the rotary area of Main Street, Cumberland Street and Harnois Avenue in Westbrook is planned for 2018-19. Other projects are planned in Standish, Gorham and Windham.


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