12/15/05
Loss of funding prompts revision to construction plans
for Spurwink Avenue
Loss of state and federal funding for previously approved road projects will
hopefully be rechanneled into a fourth project.
At their meeting Dec. 12, the Town Council voted to ask the Portland Area
Comprehensive Transportation Committee (PACTS) to shift funding for previously
approved work on Shore Road and on Spurwink Avenue to a revised project for
improvements to Spurwink Avenue.
A year ago, PACTS approved funding for projects on Shore Road and Sawyer
Road, and for a "preventive maintenance overlay" of Spurwink Avenue between
the Spurwink Church and Pheasant Hill Road.
Last month, however, the Town learned that the projects would not be funded.
One of the projects, a $84,000 shim and overlay on Sawyer Road from Fickett
Street to Eastman Road, will not be funded at all because the road has been
re-classified, and because overall funding has been cut as part of the new
federal transportation law, McGovern said at the Dec. 12 Town Council meeting.
MDOT and PACTS has also withdrawn funding for two projects on Shore Road
and on Spurwink Avenue because the state will not work with federal funds
on roads that do not meet federal specifications. The Shore Road project,
at $471,900 would have added shim and overlay to 2.2 miles of the road between
Fort Williams and Route 77; and the Spurwink Avenue project, at $572,900,
would have paved 2.7 miles of the road from the Spurwink Church to Pheasant
Hill Road.
At their December meeting however, the Town Council agreed to ask PACTS and
MDOT to transfer the funds that would have gone to the Shore Road project
toward a re-defined project on Spurwink Avenue. The revised project would
replace current paving with a paved foam-emulsion layer, and add 4-foot wide
shoulders to the road, from a point just north of the Spurwink Church to
the intersection at Deer Run Road.
The improvements will bring the road to federal standards, and serve as a
model in town, McGovern said.
The council voted 6-1 to approve the application, with Councilor Carol Fritz
opposed.
Councilors Cynthia Dill and Mary Ann Lynch said the updated proposal for
Spurwink Avenue would make the stretch more pedestrian-friendly, but hoped
the town could find some way to prevent vehicles from traveling faster on
a wider road.
Lynch said she thought the idea was a good fallback plan in light of the
loss of funding, but "it's really disappointing that we are where we are."
She was especially disappointed in the lack of funding for Shore Road. McGovern
said that to bring the road to federal specifications would cost millions,
not to mention the sacrifice of characteristic stone walls and bends in the
road. Even so, PACTS would not likely fund any work there because of low
traffic counts. "We need to recognize that any work to be done on Shore Road
in the future will likely need to be done with local dollars," McGovern said
in a memo to the council.
If the request is approved by PACTS, some time next month, the Town would
have three projects funded with state and federal assistance - the Spurwink
Avenue project; a traffic signal and improvements to the intersection at
Shore, Scott Dyer and Ocean House road; and shim and overlay on Route 77
from the Grange Hall to the Church of the Nazarene. Cost for these projects
would amount to up to $2.04 million, with a local match of up to $261,460,
or 12.8 percent of the total. Plans are for the Spurwink Avenue and the Route
77 project to be undertaken in 2006.
Funds for the local match would come from the Town's roadway improvement
account, budgeted at $209,00 for the current year, McGovern said. He is also
proposing that the $70,785 set aside to fund the local match of the Shore
Road project be used for locally funded paving, and for the allocation to
the Town Center intersection.
High School traffic light
In his memo, McGovern also recommended funding strategies for the traffic
signal and roadway improvements proposed for Route 77 at the High School
entrance. No funds would be available from the roadyway improvement account.
The signal is part of the site plan for the High School renovation project
approved by the Planning Board in 2004.
The Town has received a cost estimate of $213,000 for the High School
intersection project. McGovern is recommending the light be funded by interest
earned on the renovation project; a donation from the retail building proposed
next to the High School drive; and, a suggestion to the School Department
to consider an allocation of unspent project dollars. He is recommending
any balance still needed be added to the proposed borrowing for the sewer
and road improvement bond planned for this coming spring/summer.
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