DOT to resume Route 1 north rebuild in Camden
Springbrook Hill and Route 1, in late winter 2024, just as work was commencing on the highway rebuild. (File photo, Lynda Clancy)
Springbrook Hill and Route 1, in late winter 2024, just as work was commencing on the highway rebuild. (File photo, Lynda Clancy)
CAMDEN — The Maine Department of Transportation and its contracting partners are continuing work on a project to replace the Great Brook Bridge culvert and rehabilitate and reconstruct Route 1 in Camden near the Lincolnville town line.
On-site construction began last November and work will resume In April, according to a March 24 news release from the DOT.
Beginning on Monday, April 7, traffic lights and flaggers will guide an alternating, two-way traffic pattern throughout the construction area.
The anticipated construction completion date for all work is June 2026.
The work area begins 0.55 miles north of Sagamore Road and extends north for 1.56 miles.
The project involves the replacement of Great Brook Bridge, as well as the reconstruction and rehabilitation of Route 1. These safety and drainage improvements will facilitate a safer and smoother roadway.
The contractor on this project is Ranger Construction Corporation of Fairfield. The contract amount is $9.3 million.
In 2015, the DOT first initiated conversations about rebuilding Route 1 along the 1.5-mile span of highway and raising the 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).
The design entailed reconfiguring slopes and roadbed, clearing trees so sun can dry the highway in the winter, and filling and raising bridges, in some spots by at least seven feet.
In 2015, DOT Project Manager Ernie Martin, who is part of the DOT’s Midcoast office, told Penobscot Bay Pilot that the plan was a good one, and at that point, fully funded. Martin said much water runs down from the hills, and the road is to be improved, in part, to better control drainage and slippery conditions.
The DOT had anticipated a 2017 start date for the then $4.4 million project. The $1.5 million replacement of the Spring Brook bridge and the $700,000 replacement of the Great Brook Bridge were to be done at the same time as the highway rebuild.
In 2022, the same project carried higher price tags, and in the DOT’s 2022 Work Plan,the funding was contingent on Congressionally Designated Spending approval. The Route 1 reconstruction was pegged at $8.65 million, the Spring Brook bridge at $2.76 million, and the Great Brook bridge at $1.2 million.
The State of Maine owns four rods — or 66 feet — of width that the highway occupies as it passes through communities. Route 1 is part of the national highway corridor system, but falls under DOT jurisdiction for maintenance.
