NORWAY – There are too many curves for the speed limit for the first three miles of Harrison Road, which is also Route 117.

That’s the opinion of Heath Cohen, road designer for the Maine Department of Transportation.

“We want to fix a couple of the dips, and do some right-of-way acquisition to soften out the curves,” he said.

Cohen laid out preliminary plans for the project at a recent public hearing. The road upgrade extends from Route 118, near The Lake Store, along a busy stretch of highway where people tend to drive faster than the road’s design would allow.

The $3.1 million project is in the preliminary design phase, and is scheduled for funding in MDOT’s 2006-07 budget, he said.

The work includes raising the level of the road by around 5 feet in a couple of low points. It also involves increasing the road’s width, which varies between 50 and 65 feet, to create an 80-foot corridor with paved shoulders.

“In areas where the houses are closer, we’ll jog (the road) around so we won’t have to take any homes,” said Cohen. He said the amount of land that needs to be taken is minor.

But the process of right of way acquisition takes time to complete, he said, adding, “We’d like to get our plans finalized and have it ready to go” as soon as funds become available.

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