DOT plans $1.16 million upgrade in Guilford, but not until 2015

By Mike Lange
Staff Writer

    GUILFORD — The good news for Guilford residents is that pothole-ridden South Main Street between the Rite Aid pharmacy and the Parkman town line will be reconstructed.

Observer photo/Mike Lange

    MAPPING IT OUT — Brian Levensalor (black baseball cap) and other residents of South Main Street look over a map of the proposed DOT reconstruction project.

    The bad news is that it’s not on the Maine Department of Transportation’s work plan until the summer of 2015. “I know that the town would like to have this completed and us (the DOT) out of here by the end of 2015,” said DOT Project Manager Shawn Davis at a public hearing last week. “But I really can’t promise that.”
    Guilford’s bicentennial is 2016 and the town hopes to have both South Main Street and the Memorial Bridge fixed up in time for the observance. But the DOT has hundreds of projects across the state and not all of them are funded during the same period of time, Davis explained.
    The South Main Street reconstruction will cost $1.16 million, but only $600,000 has been allocated in the current state budget, said the DOT official. But he added that he’s confident the rest of the money will be available once the project goes out to bid — probably by May 2015.
    Only a handful of people showed up at last week’s meeting, but Davis and his staff were eager to answer questions about the reconstruction. Many of the concerns voiced were about the impact on the 39 properties on the portion of the road slated to be upgraded.
    Davis stressed at the start that the meeting was preliminary and a follow-up session will take place closer to the construction date. “The reason we have a meeting this early is because we’re not going to tell you what needs to be done on your road … Our engineer is great at putting lines on paper, but he does not live on your road. So what he’s projecting may not be exactly what the road needs,” Davis said. However, what may be needed may not be “palatable to landowners,” he added.
    Tentative plans call for the road to be rebuilt with an 18-inch gravel base and six inches of hot top. The lanes will be 11 feet wide with a 3-foot paved shoulder on each side.
    When DOT gets close to town “where the real estate gets tight,” curbs and catch basins will be installed to capture the runoff and send it into the existing drainpipe, Davis said.
    The road will also be graded in order to improve the visibility for drivers approaching driveways and side streets on the hill.
    Davis gave a brief overview of the right-of-way process, noting that a DOT official who specializes in easements will attend the next meeting. Many homes and properties in the area are technically within the DOT right-of-way, according to Davis. “So we may have to dig up a few lawns in the process,” he said. “But we’re not here to be the big, bad DOT. We’re willing to work with the landowners.”
    Resident Brian Levensalor asked that if DOT actually “owned” part of his front lawn, “Why am I paying taxes on it?” Davis said that technically, DOT has a “highway easement” on a lot of property without necessarily owning it. “But we have the rights — by law — to do what we want with it,” he said.
    Brad Dean recalled that he started building his house on South Main Street in 1978 “and was told back then that the road would be fixed the next year.”
    Davis, however, said that times have changed — for the better. “We have told the Legislature that we will deliver 85 percent of our projects on time,” he said. “In my region this year, I’m proud to say that we’ve delivered 100 percent of the projects on time.”