CARRABASSETT VALLEY – Town Manager Dave Cota updated selectmen Monday on plans for road improvements on Route 27 heading north out of town. Construction is scheduled for next summer.

Cota wrote in his agenda for the meeting that he has been speaking with representatives from the Maine Department of Transportation about the project in an “attempt to design the project such that we avoid the placement of deep ditches directly adjacent to the four-foot paved shoulders.”

Improvements to Route 27 from Kingfield to Carrabassett Valley completed this summer created deep ditches along the sides of the road for drainage. The concern is that people pulling off for a flat tire or to view the river on the winding road will not have enough space on the four-foot shoulders and might end up in the ditch.

Cota hopes to be able to “improve on mistakes made” on the southern side of the route, according to Selectman John Beaupre.

The project will entail culvert and guardrail replacement on the stretch of road between Redington and Wyman Township. Guardrails will also be replaced along the section between Carrabassett Valley and Kingfield.

Cota also asked that a bridge and guardrail be improved at “Oh my gosh corner” on Route 27, so called because one headed north is greeted by a first imposing view of Sugarloaf just beyond a sharp curve.

“We believe existing conditions there to be very dangerous as evidenced by past and several recent serious accidents at that location,” Cota wrote in the agenda.

Cota said the department has been receptive to his suggestions and indicated a willingness to work with the town.