MARS HILL, Maine — A $5 million, two-year road project is nearing the home stretch in Mars Hill and Blaine.
In May 2018, Maine Department of Transportation and contractor crews started a two-year project to replace the road and drainage system for 1.6 miles of Route 1 in Blaine and Mars Hill.
“We’re a little bit more than half-way through,” said MDOT public information officer Paul Merrill.
Soderberg Construction was the winning bidder on the $5 million project, which is expected to finish by the end of August, Merrill said. The work stretches from Route 1’s intersection with Bubar Road in Blaine to the juncture of Route 1 and Route 1A in Mars Hill.
Last year, much of the work replacing the base of the roadway was completed, along with excavation for a new drainage system — the first major update to the drainage system since the 1950s.
This month, the crews are fine grading the roadway, laying down fine material in advance of binder and paving that’ll take place later this summer, Merrill said. Downtown Mars Hill is also slated to have new sidewalks installed.
During the peak of the roadwork, sections of the road will continue to have alternating one-way traffic.
The excavation work for the road and drainage system also unearthed several pieces of history during the process.
Before the work started, Steve Hitchcock of the Central Aroostook Historical Society got in touch with the crew leaders and mentioned that they might encounter some artifacts during the course of their work, including the wooden pipes from Blaine’s former wellhouse.
“Darned if he didn’t find a piece of that in front of the grange,” Hitchcock said in an interview last October, referring to the Blaine Grange.
A piece of the wooden pipe as well as an antique shotgun also unearthed during the process are now housed at the Blaine Grange, which is managed by the Central Aroostook Historical Society.
