BUCKFIELD – The reconstruction of a 6.5-mile stretch of Route 117 between Buckfield and Turner is going to cost $1.35 million more than first estimated and won’t be finished until next fall, a Maine Department of Transportation official said Thursday.

“It’s the increased fuel prices,” said Bob Watson, assistant program manager for the state’s highway program. “We’ve seen the cost of our work rise above what most of our estimates were. These contractors are burning hundreds of gallons of fuel a day. We’ve seen a dramatic increase in costs this summer.”

Asphalt costs, too, have increased in response to rising oil prices, he said.

In 2005, DOT officials estimated the cost of rehabilitating, repaving and widening the highway, including 3-foot wide shoulders along the stretch, at $4.45 million. They anticipated work to start on July 1, 2006, but Watson said the state didn’t advertise the project for contractor bids until July 19.

It then took time to assess those bids, Watson said.

K&K Construction of Turner was eventually awarded a $5.8 million contract, he said.

Watson said state officials didn’t see the project as being off schedule, but Chris Hayward, chairman of the Buckfield Board of Selectmen, said people in his town aren’t seeing it that way.

“They’ve been telling us it’s going to be done for a few years now,” Hayward said Thursday night. Townspeople understand road projects can run into delays and were anticipating the project on the well-traveled road would probably go slower than expected but were frustrated just the same, he said.

“We were told last summer when they did the meeting on it with the state that it was supposed to go out (to bid) this last winter, and it never went out,” Hayward said. “They’ve constantly dragged it out and dragged it out.”

The last he heard some preliminary ditch and culvert work would be done this year and some paving, but the bulk of the work would not begin until next spring, Hayward said.

“Of course we want it done as soon as possible, but you can only push so much,” he said. There was little doubt the road needs upgrading for safe travel, he said. “It’s a treat to say the least,” the selectman quipped.

On Tuesday, Sept. 5, state and local officials meet in Dixfield to assess the contractor’s work plan and traffic control schedules, Watson said. They will later send out a statement warning of any anticipated hold-ups.

As soon as the work plan is approved, construction can begin, he said. The entire project is expected to take one year. The DOT has said it will correct deficiencies, update drainage, replace rusted culverts and improve sight distances. The road will be widened from roughly 22 feet to 28 feet, and the gravel shoulders will be paved.

The project follows the reconstruction of a 9.4-mile section of Route 117 over Streaked Mountain from Buckfield to Paris that cost $7.4 million and took more than a year to finish.

The road has been getting busier, and the DOT predicts that the 3,400 vehicles that travel from Buckfield to Turner on an average day will increase to 4,220 in 2018. About 11 percent of the traffic is comprised of trucks.

The next stretch of Route 117, from Route 4 to Cobb Road, has been deferred to 2008 because of financial constraints, Watson said.

Glen Holmes, Buckfield’s town manager and road commissioner, said he intends to be at the Tuesday meeting because the status of the road is a top concern for Buckfield residents.

It’s a question he is frequently asked, Holmes said Thursday night.

“I’m looking forward to that meeting to hear what they have to say so we can get the exact schedule of what they are planning,” Holmes said.