Each year, the Town evaluates which roads are most in need of attention within its limited resources. This past year’s budget included $600,000 for road work with the State providing matching funds for some of the projects.
The work scheduled to be done includes replacing culverts on Rt. 25 near Files Road, repaving the bypass, and repaving from the Little River Bridge to the Rt. 237 roundabout.
The Maine DOT is also still working toward completing the Main Street project in 2019. The Town is expecting to contribute $249,000 to the cost of improving traffic signals on Main St. as well as $170,000 to rebuild/overlay Mosher Road.
PACTS, the regional transportation organization, will be providing $532,950 for updated lights on Main Street as well as $170,000 towards the work to be done in Little Falls. Town Manager Ephrem Paraschak noted that if the Town receives some additional revenue sharing funds from the State, those funds would hopefully go towards road improvements.
“It is much cheaper to repair roads before they are terminal and get another 10-12 years out of them as it is so expensive to reconstruct roads,” he said.
Plans for 2020 include adding sidewalks in Little Falls, adding sidewalks from Rt. 25 (State Street) to the Access Road, adding sidewalks on College Ave., and reconstructing College Ave. as part of a Portland Water District (PWD) line replacement. It is financially beneficial for the Town to do this project in conjunction with the PWD.