WOODSTOCK – The reconstruction of a mile stretch of Route 26 will not include the Rumford Avenue intersection in Bryant Pond because the state lacks the money.

That was the word at Wednesday night’s public hearing on the $1.89 million project that extends from Dudley Road north to just short of Rumford Avenue. The work is slated to be finished in 2005.

Thirty residents listened to the Maine Department of Transportation’s plans to rebuild the road and add a truck lane to Merrifield Hill. In response to residents’ concerns that the Rumford Avenue junction would not be done as originally planned, state engineer Kathy Kern explained budget restraints is the reason.

“We originally had considered construction to just beyond Rumford Avenue,” she said. “We were allotted a certain amount of money for the project, and when we finished the preliminary design we found the money was not enough to go as far as we had planned. So we decided to stop short of Rumford Avenue and concern the project with the intersections at Route 232 and the Dudley Road.”

Hearing facilitator Heath Cowen said, “Concentrating on the Route 232 area was recommended by the Route 26 Corridor Committee as its top priority because of the serious accident that occurred there a few years ago.” He said he hopes the highway reconstruction will continue through Bryant Pond village in years to come.

“I hope we can get the rest of this project on the plan for 2006-2007, but that will depend on whether or not we get the funding that soon,” he said.

The currrent phase consists of building a 12-foot wide truck lane, along with 12-foot wide northbound and southbound travel lanes with 8-foot paved shoulders. The truck lane would have 4-foot shoulders. Culverts and ditching would be included as well.

Cowen explained that any damage to land outside the state right of way would be repaired at the cost of the state or the contractors.

Final planning will be done this winter and throughout next summer. Advertisements for bids will start next fall and the project will be completed during the summer of 2005.

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