MOUNT DESERT — Reconstruction of about 1.1 mile of Route 198, from Giant Slide Road to just north of Parkman Mountain, has begun, with alternating one-lane traffic through the work zone.
The project is expected to be completed before the end of June.
“They want to be in and out before we see a large increase in traffic,” Public Works Director Tony Smith said of the contractor, R.F. Jordan & Sons.
Voters at last year’s Mount Desert town meeting approved spending $500,000 for the project. That amount is being matched by the Maine Department of Transportation.
At this year’s town meeting on May 8, voters will be asked to authorize spending another $500,000, also to be matched by the state, to rebuild the 1.1 mile stretch of Route 198 between the Giant Slide Trailhead and Eagle Lake Road. That work would be done next year.
The 2.2-mile road rebuilding project was split in two because the MDOT can only fund up to $500,000 per project per year through its Municipal Project Initiative.
Smith has described the condition of Route 198 between Parkman Mountain and Eagle Lake Road as “very poor and ever deteriorating.”
Reconstruction of the roadway will include a four-foot-wide paved shoulder on each side.
Correction: An earlier version of this article contained an error. The work starts at Giant Slide Road.
Dick Broom
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