MDOT work plan includes $9.4 million for local roads

The Caribou area will see road maintenance and bridge repair this year totaling roughly $9.4 million, part of the Maine Department of Transportation’s $2.02 billion three-year work plan.
Unveiled last week, the plan lists a total of 1600 projects statewide through 2016. This year alone, 425 capital projects are scheduled, covering all 16 counties, with a combined value of $455 million.    Funding for the work will come from $100 million dedicated to transportation projects by last November’s state bond issue, as well as federal highway monies. MDOT officials said items planned for 2014 are already funded and tied to definite schedules, while those for 2015-16 are subject to change.
Locally this year, several municipalities will come under a $1.2 million light capital paving (LCP) project. The MDOT’s LCP program provides the paving of many main or rural roads in Maine’s small towns which carry more traffic than side roads. Paving is planned this year in Hamlin, Connor Township, Caribou, Ashland, Castle Hill, Portage Lake, Oxbow Plantation, T9R5, Winterville Plantation, Mapleton, Stockholm and Limestone.
In Caribou, work will be done on the Aroostook River Bridge/Route 161, which goes over the Aroostook River, Maine Northern Railway and Lyndon Street, at an estimated funding of $700,000. Highway construction is scheduled just north of the Caribou-Fort Fairfield line for about four miles, ending at the bridge, with a price tag of nearly $7 million.
An additional $155,000 will be spent on updating the Caribou Municipal Airport’s master plan to include a wildlife hazard site visit, and $98,000 is earmarked for roof repairs on DOT maintenance camp buildings.
Limestone will see about one mile of paving work on Route 1A, beginning just south of the Bog Road and extending north, with an estimated cost of $474,000.
Local projects scheduled for 2015 and 2016 include the following.
• Caribou, Woodland and New Sweden: Highway preservation paving, Route 161B from the Woodland Road for 1.6 miles and going northwest 6.1 miles on Route 161, with estimated funding of $1,334,200.
• Caribou: Paving, Route 164, south of Wilbur Avenue and extending south for 1.6 miles, estimated at $400,000.
• Caribou: Design and permit work for a hangar at the Caribou Municipal Airport, funded at $154,500.
• Caribou: Repair work on the Aroostook River Bridge, funded at $350,000.
• Limestone and Fort Fairfield: Paving, Route 1A, beginning at the Goodrich Brook Bridge in Fort Fairfield and going north 3.4 miles, with funding of $565,500.
• Stockholm: Bridge construction on the Little Madawaska River Bridge in Stockholm, at a cost of $1.6 million.
• Woodland: Highway repair and fixing of frost heaves beginning at the Fowler Road and going east for 0.6 mile, at an estimated price of $200,000.
Governor Paul R. LePage and Maine Department of Transportation Commissioner David Bernhardt released the document last week.
“This work plan is exactly that – a summary of the work we plan to do,” said Bernhardt. “We work hard to follow through on our plans.” He pointed out the department’s mission, which is “to responsibly provide our customers the safest and most efficient transportation system possible, given available resources.”