PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — The first section of the Presque Isle bypass is almost complete, while the second and longer section won’t be starting construction until at least 2021, according to the Maine Department of Transportation.
Construction on first section the bypass between Conant and Fort Fairfield Roads is wrapping up this year, said Ted Talbot, MDOT press secretary.
Still to be completed are a final surfacing, landscaping and cleanup, Talbot said.
The first phase of the bypass will run 1.5 miles and is set to open this summer at a cost of $15.5 million, Talbot said. Madawaska-based Ed Pelletier & Sons is the contractor on the project.
The bypass is planned to span 7.5 miles between two sections running approximately north to south around the center of Presque Isle. The bypass was proposed two decades ago as a way to better route truck traffic going to and from the McCain Foods and Huber Engineered Woods mills in Easton.
Twenty properties were impacted by the first section of the bypass, including four residential properties that were acquired by the DOT.
The second phase of the bypass is expected to cost $50 million, and will run about 6 miles from the south end of Presque Isle on Route 1 northeast to Route 10 in Easton.
That section will start construction “as soon as funding becomes available,” which will likely be in or after 2021, Talbot said.
The DOT is still completing land acquisitions for the second phase of the bypass, which will run through several parcels of active farmland, Talbot said.
The costs for the new roadway will total more than $65 million, with 80 percent being covered by the federal government and 20 percent by the state.
