FALMOUTH — The Maine Department of Transportation begins work this week on a section of Brook Road between Blackstrap Road and the Westbrook city line.
In a project that Parks and Public Works Director Jay Reynolds said will last through August, workers will tear up the existing pavement and replace it with two new layers of asphalt. In addition, gravel on the shoulders will be removed and replaced to create paved bike lanes on both sides, widening the new street by 3 feet.
The $475,000 in funding for the project comes completely from federal stimulus dollars, Reynolds said.
The street work, with its wider bike lanes, was initially approved in 2006 through the Portland Area Comprehensive Transportation System, Reynolds said, but was deferred. When stimulus funds became available, the Brook Road project was ready to go.
As work on the street progresses, it will be down to a single lane for most of the construction period, but residents will always have access to their homes, he said.
Another road project that Reynolds said is “95 percent complete” is a redesign of the intersection of Winn and Falmouth Roads near Huston Park.
“Traffic studies done in the past couple of year showed deficiencies with turning,” Reynolds said.
The project realigned the intersection, making it more of a “T” as opposed to the yields, which he said caused speeding and safety issues. The intersection improvements, at a cost of about $170,000, had been planned for several years and were funded in 2007, he said.
The only work left on that rework is to finish some cleanup and add street signs, Reynolds said.
The town is also about to open the bidding for another road project this year.
The project will upgrade the section of Middle Road between Pleasant Hill Road and Ledgewood Drive to improve drainage and to add bike lanes. Although road construction pricing has been favorable lately, Reynolds said he won’t have a final cost until the bids are in. While he said engineers’ estimates from a year or two ago may be outdated, he anticipates the cost will most likely be in the mid- to upper-$300,000 range.
Normal
0
false
false
false
MicrosoftInternetExplorer4
Copy the Story Link
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.