RANGELEY – A petition signed by more than 300 residents was presented at a public hearing at the Rangeley Lakes Regional School on Thursday night asking the Maine Department of Transportation not to straighten Route 4.

Ellen Gould presented the petition saying, “Please don’t ruin our perfect mountain road.”

MDOT presented preliminary plans for reconstruction of Route 4 beginning .02 miles south of the Township E town line and extending northwest 3.58 miles into Sandy River Plantation. The design began in January 2001 and an initial public hearing was held in March 2003. The project is designed to improve the vertical and horizontal alignment of the roadway and calls for improvement of drainage and guardrails. It would eliminate the horseshoe turn north of Small Falls, but retain the S-turns near the Appalachian Trail.

Heath Cowan, MDOT project manager, cited the safety concerns for the changes in the road’s footprint and the project aims, “fix a design deficiency in the roadway.” Steve Bodge, also of MDOT, provided the audience with the accident statistics for the area, which included 13 accidents during a three-year period (1999 -2001) in the horseshoe corner area.

Emotions ran high among the audience and seemed overall to support changes to enhance the road safety while maintaining the road’s scenic beauty.

Charles Hayes said, “You are completely ruining this roadway as a scenic byway.”

Rebecca Kurtz, a representative of the Rangeley Lake Scenic Byway Council, read a statement from the group: “In the spirit of compromise and with a strong desire to get the project off the drawing board and onto the ground, the Council has agreed to support the current MDOT proposal subject to the following qualifications…” The list of qualifications included the conversion of the horseshoe corner into a scenic walking path, several vehicle turnouts and a change in the configuration of the Appalachian Trail parking area.

Jean Noyes said, “I never knew that curve was scenic, because my eyes are always on the road. I have never seen it.”

According to Cowan, the 3.58-mile long section of road has an average of 1,050 vehicles per day at a posted speed of 50 miles per hour. Approximately 26 percent of the traffic is trucks.

The construction cost is estimated at $5.7 million, with the total project figures expected to be $6.475 million. The project has not been funded at this point, but will consist of 80 percent federal funding and 20 percent state funding. There is no local funding.

Construction is scheduled to begin in the fall of 2005 and be completed by fall 2006.

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