Rehabilitation work on bridges around Lincoln County and runway reconstruction at the Wiscasset Municipal Airport top the roughly 60 projects in the Maine Department of Transportation’s three-year work plan for Lincoln County.
Barter’s Island Bridge in Boothbay, Thompsons Bridge in Southport, and Winslows Mills Bridge in Waldoboro are all projected for rehabilitation, repair, or replacement in the work plan for 2016, 2017 and 2018, released on Jan. 4.
Rehabilitation of the Barter’s Island Bridge over Back River in Boothbay is the work plan’s most expensive project in Lincoln County.
According to the work plan, the total price tag for the project, slated to take place in 2017-2018, is $4.25 million.
Maine Department of Transportation Bridge Program Manager Wayne Frankhauser said the project is about halfway between planning and requesting bids.
“We are looking at rehabilitation, repair, and replacement options and different scenarios for maintaining traffic during construction,” Frankhauser said.
The program manager said design report recommendations indicating how the department wants to go forward should be done around the end of February.
He said the bridge is a manually operated swing bridge and the project will focus on replacing the swing span in the center of the bridge, while reusing the bridge’s existing approach spans.
Frankhauser said that after the completion of the design report recommendations, a public meeting will be held to present information on the project to the public.
After the public meeting is held, Frankhauser said a more detailed design report will be released.
“This will explain the options we looked at for the project and make recommendations,” Frankhauser said.
The department is tentatively scheduled to request bids for the project in early 2017.
According to Frankhauser, work on bridges in Southport and Waldoboro are in the preliminary stages.
An allocation of $1 million has been made for replacement of the superstructure – all parts above the foundation – of the Winslows Mills Bridge over Medomak River, located 0.06 of a mile east of Route 32 on Cross Street. The work is scheduled to take place in 2017-2018.
Frankhauser said the specifics of what portions will be replaced will be decided after further study.
In Southport, an allocation of $2.7 million has been made for replacement of the Thompsons Bridge over Decker Cove, located 0.03 of a mile south of Route 27 on Route 238, also in 2017-2018.
The Wiscasset Municipal Airport is also set to receive attention from the DOT in the department’s three-year work plan.
Maine Department of Transporta-tion spokesman Ted Talbot said that in 2016, $427,450 was allocated for easement acquisition and obstruction removal for runway 25, in addition to the acquisition of snow-removal equipment.
Talbot said an allocation of $154,500 has been made for easement acquisition for runway 7 in 2017.
He also said $1,802,500 has been allocated for obstruction removal, and design and reconstruction for runway 7 and 25 in 2018.
According to Talbot, the easement acquisitions and obstruction removal projects need to be accomplished in order to do the much-needed runway reconstruction.
Talbot said the airport projects are funded 90 percent by the Federal Aviation Administration, 5 percent through state funds, and 5 percent through local funding.
The three-year work plan also addresses capital paving projects in both Waldoboro and Wiscasset areas.
The state will spend $1,728,000 to pave Route 1 with a 1 1/4-inch overlay from Winslows Mills Road 3.9 miles northeast to 0.16 of a mile south of the Warren town line.
Work on the project is slated to begin in 2017-2018.
For 2017, $885,967 has been allocated for both highway paving and light capital paving on Route 218 in Alna, Whitefield, and Wiscasset.
The paving is slated to begin at Route 1 in Wiscasset and extend north 20.78 miles to Route 17 in Whitefield.
The estimated value of work across the state in the three-year work plan is more than $2.2 billion, with some 2,184 work items to be performed over the course of the next three years.
The calendar year 2016 work alone includes 497 capital projects with a combined total value of $520 million.
