HOULTON, Maine — If all goes as planned, the town of Houlton will see three major road paving projects completed by the Maine Department of Transportation this summer.
Houlton Town Manager Eugene Conlogue told councilors Monday evening that the board needed to sign off on the agreement between the town and MDOT prior to construction.
“The MDOT would like to do three major paving projects here in Houlton, subject to the availability of funds,” Conlogue said. “Basically it allows for overweight loads on our roads to do this work.”
Funding for the construction could be impacted if Gov. Paul LePage withholds funds voters approved in a transportation bond last November, Conlogue added.
The first project involves a 1.84-mile section of Route 1 (North Street) at the intersection of Kendall Street and Route 2 (near Polaris Cable) up to the B Road.
The second project includes 1.59 miles of Military Street from the Route 2/Kendall Street intersection, up past the Houlton Fire Department to the White Settlement Road on top of Drake’s Hill.
The third project calls for 2.01 miles of Route 1 at the Houlton/Hodgdon town line and extending north along Court Street to the Route 1/Route 2 intersection near the Houlton Post Office.
Exactly when the construction will take place, and how traffic will be affected has yet to be determined. Logging trucks frequently travel on Court Street to and from the Danforth area.
“These roads definitely need this,” council Chairman Paul Cleary said. “The one thing I ask is can we let people know when this is happening so they can plan for delays or alternative routes? On top of all this, we have our own crew paving side roads. This is going to be quite the cluster, but if we have to sit and wait in a line to get these projects done, that’s fine.”
Conlogue said he would like to see MDOT complete one project at a time, but could not say with any certainty if that would be the case.
It was believed that the Military Street portion of the project involved overlaying new asphalt, while the other two were more involved with grinding the existing surface before laying new pavement.
No local matching dollars are believed to be required from the town for these projects.
In other agenda items, the council:
• Re-appointed Marcus Russell to a five-year seat on the town’s Planning Board; and Philip Bernaiche, Anthony Delucca and Carl Lord Jr. to three-year terms on the town’s Zoning Board. These positions are appointed by the council and not voted on by the public.
• Granted a Beano/Bingo license to the Houlton Rotary Club for its April 3 fundraiser at 110 Military St.
The next regular meeting of the Houlton Town Council will be held Monday, March 24 at 6 p.m.
