AUBURN — Work to make Route 4 north of Lake Shore Drive safer should move forward later this summer.

Jeffrey Tweedie, a project manager for the Maine Department of Transportation, said bids were opened Wednesday on the $400,000 project. Bidding will close mid-August, and Tweedie expects work to begin by the end of August.

“There may be some disruption to traffic, but it shouldn’t be too bad,” Tweedie said. “They have a lot of pavement out there that can be utilized during the project.”

Plans called for adding a center lane to the road from just south of Lake Shore Drive to just north of Blanchard Road and Roy’s Hamburger Stand. That will be followed by repainting that will transform the four-lane road with wide shoulders to a four-lane road with a two-way center lane.

The project is expected to cost between $386,000 and $467,000, according to the bid. It is being funded mostly by the federal government, with the city of Auburn administering the project.

It was expected to go out to bid earlier this month, but the Federal Highway Administration authorization review took longer then expected.

“First we look at it to make sure the project complies with federal regulations, then we send it up to our federal partners,” Tweedie said. “It’s up to them when the project has authorization to advertise the project.”

That road has been the site of numerous accidents — more than 14 crashes in a three-year period. Most recently, an SUV and a Volkswagen sedan collided Saturday night just south of Lake Shore Drive.

“This is a safety project, in response to the numerous crashes at that location,” Tweedie said.

The work does not call for structural changes to the road. Once repainted, individual travel lanes will be reduced from 12 to 11 feet wide and the breakdown lanes will go from 12 feet wide at their widest to 8 feet at the widest.

staylor@sunjournal.com

Copy the Story Link