The future looks smoother for communities in the Boothbay peninsula and Wiscasset area, at least it does for their roads. Several towns in the region are part of a multi-billion-dollar plan from the Maine Department of Transportation (MDOT) to improve the state’s infrastructure over the next three years. 

According to a report released Jan 18, MDOT is planning 2,672 projects totaling $4.74 billion to take place in 2024, 2025 and 2026. These include work on bridges, highways, roads, ferries, airports and public transportation. The plan lists $11.9 million worth of work in Alna, Edgecomb, Boothbay, Boothbay Harbor, Westport Island, Wiscasset. 

“... I am pleased to report that due to bipartisan wisdom and compromise exhibited by policymakers at the federal and state levels, MaineDOT can continue a pivot from making do to making real progress,” Commissioner Bruce A. Van Note said in a letter to the public. 

In the report, Van Note said Maine’s transportation needs have far outpaces available resources for decades. He said the department has gotten good at operating in “MacGyver mode,” – making use of whatever resources were at hand to keep things together. However, he said recent financial support has brightened the state’s outlook. According to MDOT, federal and state policymakers worked together to support transportation, especially in the 2021 federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and 2023 Maine Highway Fund budget. According to the report, around 37% of funding is from the state, 50% is from the federal government and the rest is from municipal, private and other sources. 

However, MDOT cited long-term challenges to Maine’s transportation goals including high infrastructure per capita and an aging workforce. In addition, MDOT aims to better adapt to the growing impacts of climate change, including extreme weather like the December and January storms that pummeled the state. The department said they aim to combat such impacts by supporting data-driven and practical actions to both reduce emissions and increase infrastructure resilience across the state. 

"Recent storms in Maine and beyond have caused devastation in so many communities, a stark reminder of why we need to make transportation stronger and more resilient," said Maria Fuentes, Executive Director of the Maine Better Transportation Association in a press release on the report. “... No longer can we rely on 'patch and pray;' the state needs to make significant investments in our aging infrastructure to meet the needs of today and the future or risk the peril of falling too far behind." 

Locally, most of the funds will be applied around Alna and Wiscasset through around $8.4 million worth of projects from 2024 to 2026. MDOT plans for $5.33 million of work in Alna to repair Dock Road and the Dock Bridge, Route 194 and the John Erskine Bridge, and Egypt Road and the Ben Brook Bridge. In addition, the Westport-Wiscasset Bridge and Route 144 are scheduled for $1.6 of repairs in 2024, including surface replacement. MDOT is also planning a $15,000 pilot program for speed reduction to calm traffic, which could include changes in street alignment or barriers and other physical measures.

In addition, MDOT plans $1.5 million worth of projects at the Wiscasset Municipal Airport including infrastructure and building improvements, possible apron reconstruction and replacing hangar doors. 

The plan also lists around $3.5 million of work in the Boothbay peninsula. The majority, around $1.9 million, is for repairs along Route 27 in Boothbay, Boothbay Harbor and Edgecomb in 2024 and 2025. The work will take place north of Lakeside Drive in Boothbay Harbor, and around Back River Road and Cross Road between towns. Edgecomb will also get around $1.6 million of repairs split between Route 1 repairs at the intersection of Cross and Cochran Roads and a culvert on River Road a mile north of McKay Road.

Edgecomb selectman Mike Smith said the board plans to invite MDOT to an upcoming meeting to better understand what residents and travelers can expect from the projects. “Although it will be challenging at times,” he said, “a silver lining might be it will give people who normally are tailgating or using their phone or crossing the center line the opportunity, while stopped, to look around, maybe visit a business and see how nice Edgecomb is.”