Bar Harbor motorists, beware: Starting Saturday, the “root canal” of Route 3 road construction returns.
The stretch of Eden Street that has been dominated by construction crews, loud machinery and detour signs for the last two years will enter its third year of redesign when construction crews resume the ambitious $18.5 million project, said Dennis Lovely, a senior project manager at the Maine Department of Transportation.
Route 3 is Mount Desert Island’s busiest road and plugs into the heart of Bar Harbor, which is the island’s biggest municipality and one of Maine’s most popular tourist destinations. The reshaping of the 4.7 miles between the Bar Harbor Quality Inn and Pirate’s Cove Adventure Golf on Route 3 has been no small headache, said Joe Minutolo, a Bar Harbor Town Council member who owns a bicycle shop at the downtown end of the long construction site.
“It’s been like getting a root canal,” Minutolo said. “It’s got to happen, and it’s going to be awesome when it is done.”
And that’s the good news: state transportation officials hope to have the project finished by June 15, just prior to the start of the busiest part of the tourist season, Lovely said.
“I think people will be very happy when they see the final product,” Lovely said.
This year, work crews will finish sidewalks, concrete curbing, drains, and ramps that will make the sidewalks accessible to residents with disabilities, among other things. Erosion will be cleaned up and grass seed planted and some driveways will be paved, according to a webpage dedicated to the project at maine.gov.
“It is a lot of cleanup sitework to be done to get ready to start paving in May,” Lovely said. “It would be the same impact as happened last spring.”
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About 1 ½ inches of blacktop will go onto the road, and its catch basins will be raised to accommodate that new height. An escape shoulder will be added at Sand Point Road, Lovely said.
In previous years, crews replaced drainage systems, road signs and large sections of water lines. New guard rails and wider paved shoulders were added to the road, as was a 10-foot-wide paved multi-use path from the town-owned ferry terminal to the West Street intersection. New rock walls were also added to the downhill approach to Crooked Road, enhancing the entrance to Bar Harbor, according to the website.
The road was closed to one lane through much of the work, and detours took motorists miles out of their way. The project’s main contractor, Sargent Corp., probably had about 50 people on site every day the work was being done. Most folks adjusted well to the disruption, Lovely said.
“The bad comments are louder than the good comments, but overall we had very minimal complaints,” Lovely said.
The work done to date has already drawn raves from residents, Minutolo said, although he wishes the bike lanes were a bit wider.
“The great thing is that we have the multi-use path,” Minutolo said. “People will be really excited once everything is set and in place. We’re going to have more of a walking, biking community, and I think that’s going to be great.”
Lovely sees only one catch remaining — bad weather.
“Keep in mind that paving is weather-dependent,” Lovely said, “so let’s hope for a dry spring.”