Communications Director Kyle Hadyniak told Lakes Region Now that he would be happy if 50 people attended the open house at Gray’s town offices on Wednesday.

Less than 20 minutes after the event opened, his expectations had already been exceeded as residents of Gray went to the open house to look at the plans for their town over the coming decade

After decades of planning, Gray took a major step toward the implementation of its Village Transformation Project on March 4 by holding an open house event for residents to give feedback on the project, one of the first major milestones in a decade-long process.

The project will restructure 2 miles of roadway in downtown Gray in order to reduce congestion, make the roadways safer and more efficient for drivers and pedestrians, and create a modern and efficient route for goods and services to flow through the village intersections.

The project will see trees lining the affected roadways, as well as the creation of a civic space on Gray Corner, across from the historical society. The roadways will be modernized and redesigned to meet state and federal safety guidelines, with aging traffic signals replaced with smart signals. The roadway drainage system will be upgraded and added as necessary.

While the idea of reworking the village has existed in some form for more than 20 years, the current iteration of the plan was developed as part of Gray’s new comprehensive plan, with a multiday design event taking place in 2022, and a hands-on workshop in 2024. The town is partnering with the Maine Department of Transportation, which is helping to lead the redesign of downtown.

The project will affect multiple roadways in Gray, including Route 202, Yarmouth Road and Portland Road, as well as local roads including Shaker Road, Center Road, Brown Street and Colley Hill Road. New roads will be constructed as bypass routes to improve access around the village intersections, connecting Route 202 through Center Road to Portland Road.

The project is anticipated to cost roughly $29 million, with the most expensive segments being Route 202 and Yarmouth Road, costing $15 million and $7 million, respectively. Eighty percent of the costs will be paid by the federal government through a Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development grant, while Maine DOT and the town government will pay 10% each.

Interim Town Manager Denise Clavette has been working on the project since she joined the town as economic development director in late 2024. Both Clavette and her predecessor, Michael Foley, worked with Maine DOT to study existing plans and work with the community on making mindful changes to the project.

Clavette said the town would save $1 million on repairs through the grant, with its share of the cost being $3 million, as opposed to spending $4 million on drainage repairs. She characterized the town hall as an extension of studies the town had performed, and said the town would work to implement the feedback it heard from the public at the open house.

Town Council member and longtime resident Anne Gass said the open house was the furthest an attempt to rework the town center had gotten, comparing previous efforts to waves that come in and recede. Gass said the town was at a critical juncture, that people were tired of the way the village looks and the way traffic flows through it, and hoped that eventually, the revitalized downtown would attract more businesses.

At the open house, reception from residents was overwhelmingly positive. Resident Dan Maguire reflected on the previous attempts to get the project off the ground. He said it morphed from plans to replace the storm drain system and fixing Yarmouth Road to addressing all of the other congestion issues. Maguire said the project had the most support of any of the previous attempts to redevelop the village.

The project is in its early stages, with work on design and engagement with the public due to continue for the remainder of the 2020s. Construction is expected to start in 2031, with completion projected to be in the summer of 2035.

The question of whether the town should commit to spending its 10% of the project costs will be a warrant article on the ballot in the June election.