BRIDGTON — The Department of Transportation will hold its final public hearing Wednesday on a major reconstruction project on Route 302 between Bridgton and Fryeburg.

The state plans to rebuild the highway, beginning 0.11 miles west of Stanley Hill Road in Fryeburg and extending 5.14 miles to Stack Em Inn Road by Shawnee Peak in Bridgton.

The hearing will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Sept. 25 at the Laura Hill Eastman Performing Arts Center in the Fryeburg Academy campus at 18 Bradley St.

Highway Program Manager Bob Carrell said the road will have 11-foot travel lanes and 6-foot paved shoulders, new ditching, culverts, under drain and safe-sight distances.

“This section of Route 302 was originally constructed in the 1930s and does not meet current design and safety standards,” he said.

Carrell said the work has been proposed because the surface and subsurface drainage is poor, weakening the pavement and reducing the life of the road. Additionally, the gravel shoulders vary in width, are eroded in places and do not meet requirements.

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Although the project is in its preliminary stages, the department anticipates that construction should begin in the spring of 2015 and be completed in the summer of 2016.

“Our intent is to maintain two-way traffic as much as possible. Alternating one-way traffic may be necessary at times for culvert installations,” Carrell said.

A special provision would be put in the project contract to require two-way traffic be maintained during the Fryeburg Fair in October.

ldixon@sunjournal.com


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