Wiscasset Town Manager Dennis Simmons told selectmen April 12, he is “pressing really hard” about Old Ferry Road’s importance, as he seeks help from Maine’s Congressional delegation for a stream crossing culvert project there.

“I’m working on trying to find (the funding), but if we can’t find it from outside, we’re going to have to take it from somewhere,” Simmons said. Last month, selectmen rejected the only bid they got, Hagar Enterprises’ $1,923,000 one that was $1.2 million more than the town budgeted. The town has a $125,000 state grant and $525,000 voters approved tapping capital reserve for, Simmons said.

He said he is using Hagar’s bid as a working number on the project’s cost. Simmons said the need to keep the road open during the work adds a lot to the cost. Old Ferry Road leads to Molnlycke and Maine Yankee. “(A contractor is) essentially going to have to build another road around it, so that we can keep access to (both). If we could just close the road for two weeks, dig it up and do it, we could save a substantial amount of money. That’s just not an option.”

Neither is doing nothing, according to Simmons. “We cannot allow that road to wash away,” he told selectmen. That is not an immediate danger, Simmons said in a phone interview April 13.

He said he planned to reach out to Maine’s Congresspeople in hopes of an “earmark.” So far, he was working with U.S. Sen. Susan Collins’ (R –Maine) office to get a phone call with her.

Maine Yankee Spokesman Eric Howes said in a phone interview April 13, he has been aware the town plans a project. Maine Yankee gave the town a letter of support for the state grant application, Howes recalled. And if any more requests come Maine Yankee’s way, it would evaluate those, he said.

In the Nov. 16, 2020 letter, viewable at maine.gov, Maine Yankee’s Daniel Laing stated: “Old Ferry Road is the sole means of access to Maine Yankee’s Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI) where spent nuclear fuel and Greater than Class C waste is stored in accordance with its U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission license. Twenty-four hour, seven day a week access to the ISFSI site is required.”

The town’s bids request that yielded Hagar’s bid said the project would replace a failing culvert and about 300 feet of road and water and sewer mains, and temporarily bypass the road.

Besides the Congressional delegation, Simmons told the board he is working another angle: If Maine’s CoastWise project gets infrastructure money through National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Old Ferry Road project could be considered for CoastWise’s priority list, Simmons said. If it makes the list, he said, “They’ll pay for it 100%.”

As with the try through the delegation, he said of the prospects with the NOAA funds and CoastWise, “There is no guarantee here.”