LINCOLNVILLE — The 10 selectmen from Camden and Lincolnville gathered at the Lincolnville Town Office Monday evening, Jan. 4, along with three members of Lincolnville’s Route 1 Committee, and agreed that the two towns continue to talk together about the state’s proposed 1.54 mile rebuild of Route 1. They will then let the Maine Department of Transportation know of the collective recommendations.

The section of the coastal highway under scrutiny extends north of Camden almost to the Lincolnville town line. The DOT’s $7 million project includes a seven-foot raise of the Spring Brook Hill bridge, where vehicle crashes are frequent, especially during the winter.

The project, listed in the DOT’s 2016-2017 work plan, also includes reconfiguring slopes and roadbed, clearing trees so sun can dry the highway in the winter, and creating an 11-foot travel lane with four-feet-wide paved shoulders on either side.

The DOT convened a public meeting March 18, 2015, at the Camden Town Office to talk about the project (See attached PDF). Both Lincolnville and Camden selectmen have since decided they want more discussion about the proposed design of the highway improvements. With the design and the preliminary design report just about finished, the next steps for the DOT involve researching who the abutting landowners are, the value of properties close to the highway, identifying rights-of-ways, titles, and determining how to negotiate with those landowners either outright compensation for highway construction, or temporary construction compensation.

At a Jan. 4 meeting at the Lincolnville Town Office, the selectmen gathered around a table, reviewing 30 years of local plans for Route 1, including those that have materialize and those that remain on scrolls of engineering printouts that were tacked up on the walls in the meeting room.

Lincolnville resident and Route 1 Advisory Committee member Chris Osgood told the selectmen that in 2002, the DOT and Lincolnville jointly produced the most current plans for that town’s stretch of Route 1. Those plans call for shoulders and traffic calming measures.

But the history of addressing the immediate Midcoast Route 1 corridor goes back even further, he said.

“Since late 1980s early 1990s, Rockport, Camden and Lville started working on Route 1 planning,” Osgood said. “What we are hoping tonight is to encourage the kind of dialogs we had in the past to continue. It would be really wise to share insights and ideas.”

The rights of ways along the highway are unclear, he said.

 “Don't assume that anyone knows for sure,” Osgood said.

He also cautioned that, “what happens in one town will play out in another.”

Camden selectman Jim Heard asked whether a conversation ever ensued about building an esplanade between the roadway and pedestrian, hiking and biking lane.

He referenced the pathway that was constructed north of Camden Village, and currently ends at the entrance to Camden Hills State Park.

While Osgood said that the likelihood of a sidewalk along Route 1 from Camden into Lincolnville is “pretty tough,” the conversation among the selectmen and Route 1 Advisory Committee suggested further discussion about a multiuse path, despite a struggle to find a way to locate one.

Not knowing if the March 18 meeting of the DOT signaled a “done deal,” the selectmen agreed that the two towns should and would work closer together on the design’s outcome and advocate for consistency.

“If our committees can continue to trade, we all benefit,” Osgood said.

Camden Selectman Leonard Lookner said the role of the town’s select board includes protecting the value of property.

“If part of this project can enhance value instead of reduce value, that's where we have responsibility,” he said.

Lincolnville selectman Arthur Durity cited a study that concluded, “pedestrians won't use sidewalks unless shielded from traffic.”

“We all want to work together on this,” said Camden Select Board Chairman John French. “Give it to the Camden-Rockport Bike and Pedestrian Pathways Committee to work with the Route 1 committee and come up with some suggestions.”

“That makes perfect sense,” said Camden Town Manager Patricia Finnigan.

Lincolnville Selectman Rosey Gerry cautioned that it is important to create a plan, and not falter from it.

“If you know what you want, and there's a plan, and you like that plan, stay with it and don't budge,” said Gerry.

 “There is strength in numbers,” said Lincolnville Board Chairman Ladleah Dunn.

 She then polled the room about other municipal issues.

“What other possible items of mutual concern can we throw out on the table to look at collaborating on in the future,” she asked.

”Solid waste,” said French.

“It's coming,” said Lincolnville Town Administrator David Kinney.

 “Sewer,” said French. “There’s plenty of room in our system, if you ever thought of moving some to Camden.”

Gerry mentioned the possibility of a natural gas pipeline running down Route 1 from Searsport to Rockland.

“It is something else to be thinking about,” he said.

 “Cut back rock outcrops by the lake [Megunticook, on Route 52],” said French.

 Following the meeting, Finnigan said that the pathways and Route 1 committees would be charged with producing a joint recommendation regarding bicycle-pedestrian lane widths and other design standards they would like considered.

“Their recommendations will be presented to the boards,” she said, in an email. “Assuming the boards agree with the recommendations, the boards would vote, inform the DOT via a letter, and then work with the DOT to have those recommendations included in the project plan. A formal board vote may not be required, but it will carry more weight with the DOT.”

Kinney said the committees would work in an advisory capacity to advise the Lincolnville selectmen on what is being planned/proposed in Camden and how that decision might affect any future Lincolnville project.

“The Lincolnville Route 1 Advisory Committee put together (and reviewed with the Lincolnville Board prior to Jan. 4) the Talking Points presented Jan. 4 with particular importance on the ‘Moving forward’ section,” he wrote, in an email. “Our belief is that a consistent design that provides for safe travel without sacrificing the rural character is best for the region. That said, we do not want to be seen as imposing our preferred design onto anyone or any place. I do not foresee a vote coming from the Lincolnville Board on the Route 1 Advisory Committee collaborating with Camden. I believe the committee has a long standing OK to do that already. Our Route 1 Advisory Committee would only send an official town position to the Maine DOT after review and approval by the Board.”

Project background

Lincolnville has been anticipating the rebuild of its stretch of Route 1 south of the Beach for several years.

The DOT, aka, the State of Maine, owns four rods — or 66 feet — of width that the highway occupies as it passes through communities.

The DOT’s Work Plan outlines the project as beginning .56 miles north of the Sagamore Farm Road, and continuing for 1.54 miles.

The highway passes through Camden and Lincolnville residential and mixed-use zones, dotted with homes, a few farms, many lodging establishments, and parts of the Camden Hills State Park. 

The 100-mile stretch of Route 1 through the Midcoast has been cited by the Federal Highway Administration in the Gateway One Corridor Plan of 2011.

Lincolnville requested a meeting with Camden’s Select Board last October, after Lincolnville selectmen discussed the DOT’s proposed 2017 project to rebuild a 1.54-mile stretch of Route 1 north of Camden toward the Lincolnville town line.

“We have been informed by our Route 1 Advisory Committee that the DOT is planning to reconstruct Route 1 from just north of the entrance to Camden Hills State Park through to the Camden/Lincolnville town line,” Lincolnville told Camden, in a letter. “Over the last several years we too have had preliminary discussion with the DOT about the future reconstruction of Route 1 from the Camden/Lincolnville town line to the beach area and the roadway north of the beach area through to the Lincolnville/Northport town line.”

The project includes raising the notorious Spring Brook Hill bridge where crashes frequently occur in the colder months (according to DOT meeting minutes, there were 16 crashes alone in that section of the road in two years).

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