The possible closure of Route 32 for summer roadwork has some Round Pond businesses concerned that they will once again receive fewer customers as they did during a similar closure during the summer of 2013.
The Maine Department of Transportation has plans to replace a culvert on Route 32 in Bremen 1.32 miles from the intersection with Biscay Road where the Muscongus Brook crosses under the road.
The culvert serves as an alewives run to their spawning grounds in Webber Pond in Bremen. The replacement of the culvert is the second half of a project begun in July 2013. Culverts passing under Route 32 at the Bremen-Bristol town line were replaced with a small concrete bridge necessitating closure of a section of the road for 15 days.
Southbound Route 32 traffic headed to Bristol was detoured onto Biscay Road into Damariscotta along Business Route 1 to Route 130 onto Lower Round Pond Road.
Crystal Berg, longtime employee of Granite Hall Store on Back Shore Road in Round Pond, said that due to the road closure far fewer customers came into the shop.
“It was pretty drastic,” Berg said. “It also made it hard for employees of Round Pond businesses to get to work.”
According to Berg, she has heard quite a bit of talk in Round Pond about Route 32 being closed. “Letters have been written to state representatives,” she said.
Maine Department of Transportation spokesman Ted Talbot said a meeting was scheduled between elected officials and Director of Project Development Bill Pulver for 8 a.m., Wednesday, June 11.
Sen. Chris Johnson, D-Somerville, Rep. Ellen Winchenbach, R-Waldoboro, and Rep. Mick Devin, D-Newcastle, were slated to attend the meeting.
“This is a fact-gathering meeting,” Talbot said. “The time frame of the project has not been set definitely.”
Talbot said that the elected officials want to know more about the dates of the project and the impact it will have.
Berg said that she is pleased that this meeting was set up. “I think it’s fantastic that what we have to say has been heard by our representatives and they are doing something about it.”
Berg said that she hopes that the project is environmentally friendly to the alewives and that she hopes “that a reasonable middle ground will be reached by all parties concerned.”
