CAMDEN/LINCOLNVILLE — The stretch of Route 1 highway between Mountain Street in Camden and Lincolnville Beach at the intersection of Route 173 was currently closed to traffic, thanks to heavy rainfall that has washed out the road reconstruction work underway near the town line. It is now opened to one lane travel.

The trouble started at approximately 11 a.m. when the Lincolnville Fire Department was called to a flooded and damaged stretch of Route 1 near the Dyer Road.

There, it was evident that as vehicles passed along the gravel stretch of road under reconstruction, rocks and dirt were being sent down the embankment toward a running brook.

The rainwater is coursing down from the Camden hills, to Route 1.

"There is a really big pool where all the water is going," said Lincolnville Fire Chief Don Fullington, Jr. 

At the request of Camden Police, both Camden and Lincolnville fire departments closed Route 1 with traffic being rerouted to Route 52, if drivers are headed to Belfast and points north, or Route 52 to the Youngtown Road or the Beach Road (Route 173), if drivers are trying to get to Lincolnville Beach and Northport.

The Maine Dept. of Transportation resumed its highway reconstruction project along that stretch with the arrival of spring, but crews now need to tend to the mess that has been created with the May 31 storm, which has produced almost an inch of rain.

The DOT is currently allowing traffic through that is on the road, without traffic control.

Reach Editorial Director Lynda Clancy at lyndaclancy@penbaypilot.com; 207-706-6657