2022 News

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Drone footage taken on August 21, 2022:

12.30.2022 – Pictures taken today from the south of Eastern Avenue to Felts Brook. There is currently no work going on from Eastern Avenue north to Eaton Brook and south to Wilson Street and the construction equipment has been removed. According to a MDOT inspector that I ran into – crews are now working north of Eaton Brook and in the area of Clewleyville Road and will not return south of Eastern until probably April. Work is still planned for the Eastern Avenue bridge to start in March. The current “roadway” needs to sit for approximately 9 months to settle.

12.13.2022 – A current article and an article from a decade ago about the MaineDOT’s  lack of public discourse. And, as far as public meetings that the DOT now says they would gladly offer in Augusta – that’s nothing but a waste of time for the public – nothing more than a checkbox on the to do list for the DOT.

 

 

 

12.11.2022 – Pictures taken today in both directions of Eastern Avenue:

First set of pictures southbound from Eastern to Felts Brook.

 

Northbound to Eaton Brook.

12.06.2022 – Pictures over the last week just north of Eastern Avenue where the road base is being established with crushed stone.

11.06.2022 – Pictures taken today of work progression over the past 6 weeks.

The first series of pictures are from Eastern Avenue to Felts Brook:

The next series of pictures are from Lambert Road:

The final set of pictures are from the Clewleyville Road area:

9.26.2022- Felts Brook has been relocated:

9.18.22 – Pictures taken today at Felts Brook; it is now obvious that what I thought was a bridge structure is the box culvert that will be used to relocate Felts Brook:

9.18.2022 – Pictures posted on the MaineDOT project website:

9.11.2022 – Pictures from Eastern Avenue to Felts Brook taken today. Lots of changes to major structures such as the culvert, the box structure and the bridge foundation at Felts Brook:

9.10.2022 – Interesting report on how the DOT does what the DOT wants to do with total disregard for local the community. “Don’t just do something because you can” – that’s how they treated us for over 20 years.

9.03.2022 – Pictures taken today south of Eastern Avenue to Felts Brook:

8.21.2022 – Pictures taken today south of Eastern Avenue to Felts Brook.

8.20.2022 – Area on both sides of Eastern Avenue still wet from recent rains:

8.13.2022 – Pictures from the official MDOT website:

 

8.13.2022 – Pictures taken today south of Eastern Avenue:

8.08.2022 – Pictures taken yesterday north of Eastern Avenue to Eaton Brook; a large culvert has been installed close to Eaton Brook to establish the footprint of the connector.

8.07.2022 – Work  continues south of Eastern Avenue: excavating continues to go under Eastern Avenue, adding fill to the road base in the middle of the field, building the concrete culvert assembly on a tributary of Felts Brook and the addition of steel beams for the bridge foundation aside the coffer dam at Felts Brook.

 

7.31.2022 – A lot has changed south of Eastern Avenue towards I-395. A temporary bridge has been removed and construction has started for culverts; coffer dam was finished and in operation for installation of ducting and a foundation for one of the bridges across Felts Brook.

 

7.30.2022 – Sargent took the day off today; a lot of fill has been added to the Eaton Brook area for the bridge that will cross the stream. The first 2 cuts have been made just south of Eastern Avenue.

 

7.27.2022 – Wednesday morning pictures of work south of Eastern Avenue; they’ve started to remove the “topsoil” to get down to the more sandy soil for use in other parts of the connector.

The following 3 pictures show that work has temporarily stopped (within the first 800 feet or so) north of Eastern Avenue. Hay has been blown onto the eastern embankment to keep the bank from eroding; more rip rap is obviously needed on the bottom of the western embankment.

7.23.2022 – Saturday’s pictures of the Woodridge Road/Eastern Avenue “Big Dig”.

 

Another story of loss from this connector; this house was for sale before it was announced that 2B-2 was the preferred alternative in 2012, taken off the market and rented for years. It was sold last fall apparently to someone that may have been unaware of this project. Dumpsters have come and gone, painting was started and stopped before completion, but now it appears that this house, a house that was once one of the most unique on the area, has been abandoned.

The above picture was taken in February of 2022; once hidden by some 50 feet of mature trees, the property line has been cut to a few sparse trees.

7.23.2022 – Another article about Orono’s failing bridges.

 

12.6% of Maine’s bridges are structurally deficient – why  does the DOT continue to spend our limited transportation funds on new projects when there are so many existing unmet transportation needs in our state?

 

7.22.2022 – TGIF. Looks like the cut just north of Eastern Avenue may be done for now. We do know, per talks with Sargent personnel. that the finished profile will be graded 0.5 degrees downward towards Eastern Avenue – right now, the grading is in the opposite direction in order to drain any water away from the Eastern Avenue area; they will not apply final grade until they start to construct the Eastern Avenue underpass. They are currently ditching the western embankment to drain off running water. Yes, as dry as it is, there is running water…

 

7.20.2022 – Another article about lack of funding – this time from the Bangor Daily News:

 

7.19.2022 – Last night’s rain left a muddy mess this morning, slowing up the day.

7.19.2022 – An article from the Portland Herald concerning DOT projects and lack of funds. My comments are attached.

 

7.18.2022 – They hit the road running this morning, excavating the center of the cut.

7.16.2022 – A walk from Eastern Avenue to Eaton Brook; a lot of work going on in the Eaton Brook area. Every other truck, removing fill from the hill just north of Eastern Avenue, has been delivered to the southern banks of Eaton Brook. Witnessed “wicking” procedure across the stream; more rip rap being installed on the western embankment near Eastern Avenue.

7.13.2022 – Excavation on the east side of the cut, just north of Eastern Avenue, nears the proposed profile elevation; the rip rap is on the western bank.

7.11.2022 – Confusion over gaining access to the new “extension” is stated in the following BDN Letter to the Editor. “…what are the developers of this extension thinking?”

 

Confusing? From the connector plans; try to figure out the vehicular movement to/from I-395, to/from Wilson Street, to/from the new connector and to/from the jughandle at Lowe’s.

 

7.13.2022 – From the FEIS; note the differences. “…what are the developers of this extension thinking?”

7.09.2022 – South of Eastern Avenue to Route 1A – a lot of the fill removed from the hill just north of Eastern Avenue has ended up in ramps to Wilson Street which can be seen in several pictures. The large ramp on the left actually attaches to Route 1A at this time and is blocked off by jersey barriers.The coffer dam continues to be built around Felt’s Brook.

The next picture is from Eastern Avenue looking north – for those that still think the connector is going “over” Eastern Avenue, one can clearly see that a good deal of the area is now below the grade of Eastern Avenue and the connector will eventually go 25′ under Eastern Avenue.

7.08.2022 – TGIF:

7.07.2022 – Another day of beep-beep-beep:

7.06.2022 – Several things going on in the Eastern Avenue area; another cut nears finishing on the eastern side and suspect they will move to either the center or the western side tomorrow. They are limited to the depth of each cut by the reach of the excavator and also the fact that they have to allow vehicle passage through the area as the excavation continues. Not sure if the ditches they dug today are the bottom of the proposed profile, but one thing is for sure – there’s a lot more dirt to be removed…

7.06.2022 – Pictures taken from the eastern edge of the cut at Eastern Avenue. A lot of the hill still needs to be taken down to reach the proposed profile of the connector.

7.06.2022 – Noisy morning; rip rap being laid down to strengthen the western bank of the cut just north of Eastern Avenue.

7.05.2022 – Construction plans can be viewed here. Take your time to locate the plans that affect your area – there will be a horizontal and a vertical plan. Distance is in increments of 100’s of feet. The distance between station 114+00 (the hill north of Eastern Avenue)  and station 108+00 (northern edge of Eastern Avenue) is 600 feet (114+00 – 108+00).

Example: The immediate area of Eastern Avenue is on plan #H30/H31 (page 180/181) and #H90/H91 (page 240/241). H30/H31 (horizontal) is what a drone would see directly above the area. H90/H91 (vertical elevation) shows the “existing profile” versus the “proposed profile” of the new connector. Note at the bottom of the plan are the same station numbers that coincide with the station numbers on the horizontal plan.

Example: Station 112+00 is the top of the hill, 400′ north of Eastern Avenue (station 108+00), at an elevation of 150.64 feet -and- the proposed elevation at that same station is 119.04 feet; thus 31.6 feet of that hill will be removed to construct the connector.

7.04.2022 – Pictures of work accomplished from Eaton Brook (north of Eastern Avenue) back southerly to Eastern Avenue. Work continues digging out the hill that extends some 600 feet from Eastern to enable going under Eastern Avenue by 25 feet.

7.03.2022 – Many changes over the past month. The fill removed to make underpasses at Eastern Avenue and Clewleyville Road has been sent to make ramps from Wilson Street and a coffer dam has been constructed around Felt’s Brook.

Immediate vicinity of Eastern Avenue:

6.04.2002 – Sargent taking the weekend off at the “Big Dig”. Was told the other day that they are about 1/3 done to reach the proposed profile of the connector from Eaton Brook  to Eastern Avenue. They are starting to establish the banking on the western slope and have reached a point that is mostly level at the bottom of the hill that will eventually be at the same level to go under Eastern Avenue – actually an uphill grade of 0.5 degrees as it heads southbound to Eastern. Still a lot of fill to be removed.

The hill still needs to be cut down to meet the level area (northbound).

 

6.01.2022 – The large piles of “top soil” on either side of the connector, north of Eastern Avenue, have been removed and stockpiled to the right of the “Big Dig”. Top soil was removed to gain access to more “sandy” soil for use northbound to Eaton Brook.

5.30.2022 – Work has started on the Lambert Road Overpass:

5.29.2022 – Digging continues as the hill is taken down and used for fill northbound from Eastern Avenue to Eaton Brook.

Looks like they have taken this area down considerably, but note the elevation of the road versus the excavated ground and remember that the connector goes under Eastern.

Not even close to the final elevation – maybe another 20 feet to be cut down.

Approximately 5′ of fill from the “hill” has been added and rolled out for truck traffic.

Fill from the hill near Eastern Avenue has made its way near Eaton Brook.

Looking northward to Eaton Brook – fill has already made its way from Lambert Road southbound to Eaton Brook – observation wells have been drilled on center-line, much as what was done in the field closest to I-395.

5.25.2022 – The “Big Dig” has started north of Eastern Avenue:

 

5.17.2022 – Channel 5 reports on the connector:

 

BREWER, Maine (WABI) – Work has officially started on a major project to connect I-395 in Brewer and Route 9 in Eddington.

Crews working on the six-mile stretch are doing groundwork, preparing drainage and elevation to get ready for the new road.

Paul Merrill with the MaineDOT says the project is estimated to cost just over $106 million.

He says this is the missing piece they should be filling that will help improve commercial truck traffic.

“The current way that vehicles and commercial traffic gets there, there’s changes in the speed limit, there’s changes in roadway geometry. This is going to be a safer, straight shot of highway to make that connection to places and people east of Bangor,” Merrill said.

Merrill says this is one of the biggest projects MaineDOT has going on now.

It’s been several years in the making and is expected to be completed in mid-2025.

Copyright 2022 WABI. All rights reserved.

Why has it taken so long to report on the number one news story in the City of Brewer? This has been going on for months. Next – where is the Bangor Daily News who haven’t reported on this project since July of 2021?

The stream pictured in the above screenshot is Felts Brook, a priority watershed for the City of Brewer, located in the area marked as “I-395 Protected Wetlands” on the current mapping used by the State of Maine for this project, and what I believe was the environmental mitigation for the original I-395 project.

The Felts Brook Watershed encompasses 50% of the city’s landmass. Felts Brook was granted a Class B rating in February of 2018; that rating means the water supply is drinkable with treatment. Alas, the MaineDOT and the ACOE ignored that fact…

Many of us believe that this connector should never have been constructed within the obvious environmental mitigation of the initial I-395 project. Was there a similar restriction for 3EIK-2 (the original preferred alternative)? NO!!

 

5.16.2022 – Finally after a year, the DOT official website has been updated!!

The project went through the bid process and was awarded to Sargent Corporation January 3, 2022. The corridor clearing was done this spring. There has been a lot of focus on the beginning of the project around Felts Brook to install settlement platforms and prefabricated vertical drains in an area where settlement is anticipated. Along Lambert Road, Sargent has removed ledge for duct bank installation, installed conduit and GIC’s for piezometers installations, continued to remove ledge for an access road for access to sand blanket area #4, began hauling sand for the Sand Blanket Area and into stockpile off Eastern Avenue, and installed temporary drainage under Ramp D (Southbound off) and at station 58+50. They have also started to move excavation from the hill at the end of night road (station 177+00 – 179+00) down towards Eaton Brook and set 7 new Settlement Platforms in Area 4. New England Boring Contractors (NEBC) continued with1 drill rig for Inclinometer installations and began Piezometer installations after meeting with Geokon Rep. Keller North America continued Wick Drain installations on Ramp E & F and on mainline 52+00 to 58+00. East Coast Signals, assisted by Sargent, completed the Lambert Road Duct Bank installation. 3 Phase Line, working for Versant Power, connected lines to riser poles on Lambert Road.

5.08.2022 – We haven’t seen much action in our immediate area, however they have been apparently very busy in the field towards Route 1A. Scott from Sargent had mentioned earlier of a technique called wicking to pull out the water to aid in compression required for the road base; a good deal of that area has had the wicking installed as can be seen in these pictures:

 

 

 

 

 

An outer fabric shell with an internal plastic vertical tracking to pull out the water.

 

New “observation wells” are spaced every couple of hundred feet .

 

Obviously a monitoring device that is close to the observation well in the above picture.

 

 

4.22.2022 – Pictures taken on April 17th of work on the Lambert Road:

 

Looking north to Clewleyville Road.

Lambert looking south – note the house still exists on the hill.

Clewleyville  looking down to Lambert.

3.30.2022 – More pictures taken today:

 

Where the connector comes out on Route 9 @651 Main Street, Eddington.

Where the connector comes out on Route 9 @651 Main Street, Eddington.

Those aren’t tall spindly trees in the background – they are the lighting for a tennis court and a barn/garage that the MaineDOT did not feel the need to take or compensate for.

This is the home that used to be on the above property.

Lambert Road looking south – hard to see existing home on the hill that is in the way.

Ongoing work – looking north on Lambert Road.

Clewleyville Road looking north – house is still in the way.

Access road at Eastern Avenue has been “strawed” to apparently dry it out.

Initial grading near Eastern Avenue also “strawed”.

Straw activity at the access road; a machine that eats bales of straw and spits them out.

3.27.2022 – Pictures of the start of an access road that goes in approximately 600′ from Eastern Avenue. This road will be used when they start to remove the hill in that area to enable the connector to go under Eastern Avenue. Told by a Sargent employee that this will not happen until Brewer’s yearly road load limitations are lifted; City of Brewer’s website advises that this will not occur until April 30th. Access road still needs a lot of stone and fill added as it barely holds a man’s weight, let alone a truck…

Looking south to Eastern Avenue. Approximately 31′ of material will be removed at the highest point of this hill at or near Station 112 (400′ from Eastern Avenue.)

Looking north further down the new access road.

Looking back towards Eastern Avenue.

Approximately 600′ from Eastern Avenue. This area will be graded down to approximately 18.5′ from the existing profile. Note the clear area where this house used to be :

 

This house was razed in December 2018.

This is approximately 600′ from Eastern Avenue looking south.

This is approximately 600′ from Eastern Avenue looking north.

3.26.2022 – More pictures closer to Route 1A and the Wilson Street Bridge.

The first nine pictures show Felts Brook that meanders through an area that is clearly marked as I-395 PROTECTED WETLANDS on the official state of Maine map used for this project; below is a screenshot that I included in my response to the ACOE final permitting. I received no answers from the DOT or the ACOE reference this mapping.

Many of us believe that this connector should never have been constructed within the obvious environmental mitigation of the initial I-395 project.

Felts Brook is Brewer’s Priority Watershed and it encompasses 50% of the city’s landmass. Felts Brook was granted a Class B rating in February of 2018; that rating means the water supply is drinkable with treatment. Alas, the MaineDOT and the ACOE ignored that fact…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking towards Route 1A and the Wilson Street Bridge.

Looking eastbound towards Route 1A.

Looking south towards Route 1A and the access road to the right that goes to the Bridge.

Looking south towards Route 1A and the access road to the right that goes to the Bridge.

Access road paralleling Route 1A to the Wilson Street Bridge.

Access road paralleling Route 1A to the Wilson Street Bridge.

New Wilson Street Bridge that carries Route 1A traffic.

New Wilson Street Bridge that carries Route 1A traffic.

New Wilson Street Bridge that carries Route 1A traffic.

Looking back towards Eastern Avenue to the void in the treeline that is 2B-2.

3.23.2022 – More pictures further out in the field than I’ve been before. Roads are coming from all directions as this is where the intersections of I-395, Route 1 and 2B-2 converge.

Looking south at Route 1.

Looking north to Eastern Avenue.

Looking south at the Wilson Street/I-395 Bridge.

Looking southeast towards Route 1.

Looking north from above station to Eastern Aavenue.

Looking back to Eastern Avenue from access road culvert.

3.22.2022 – Initial grading has apparently started on the hill just north of Eastern Avenue;  the shovel is sitting where another 30′ will have to be removed. The top photo was taken looking back towards Eastern Avenue. The bottom photo is an access road from Eastern Avenue north up the eastern side of the ROW to where the shovel is.

3.20.2022 – Decided to walk further than previously from Eastern Avenue to I-395 but didn’t get too far as a culvert, approximately 2,500′ south of Eastern Avenue, has failed and part of the road is washed out. Don’t expect that this was anything other than a temporary culvert for construction, however it does prove how wet this area is:

 

 

 

3.15.2022 – Traveled by Lambert, Clewleyville and Levenseller Roads today to check progress of tree clearing of 2B-2’s footprint:

Looking north on Lambert Road. A bridge will take 2B-2 traffic over Lambert Road.

 

The remains of what was a mobile home just a few weeks ago on Lambert Road.

 

Lambert Road looking south.

 

Looking south on Clewleyville Road. A bridge will take 2B-2 traffic under Clewleyville Road.

 

Looking north on Clewleyville Road at what was once a very private country home that is now in the middle of this connector.

 

That same country home can be seen looking south on Levonseller Road.

 

Looking north on Levonseller Road where a  neighborhood used to be. A bridge will take 2B-2 traffic under Levenseller Road.

 

 

3.13.2022 – My curiosity got the best of me yesterday and I walked approximately 3/4 of a mile from Eastern Avenue towards I-395 to see what 24/7 truck loads of fill for weeks were constructing; I could have walked out further, but the threat of rain turned me around. There is an 800′ length of road base, between the 2 concrete structures in pictures below, that looks almost ready for paving. The circular structures on center line are sections of concrete ducting that function to protect a metal boring pipe within each structure; pipe may be to measure water level and may be a result of the “wicking process” that Sargent advised of earlier.

 

 

Looking towards I-395, approaching station# 81+50. Note the change in width.

Looking back towards Eastern Avenue from above picture.

Looking towards I-395 just before station #81+50; approximately 2,700′ from Eastern. According to the plans, this is in the area of a difference between existing and proposed elevation of some 15′, so we may not be done with raising this roadbed in this section.

Station #73+48 (approx. 3/4 mile from Eastern Avenue). According to the plans, this is in the area of maximum difference between existing and proposed elevation of some 14′, so we may not be done with raising this roadbed.

From station #73+48 looking towards the highway. Several hundred feet, not as processed as the previous 800′, but still an amazing amount of fill has been added in this area.

Station #73+48 looking back towards Eastern Avenue.

The orange marker is the official snowmobile trail that has been obviously severed.

The above and next pictures are of a culvert that may be an offshoot of Felt’s Brook; I was surprised to see no protection to these streams, such as the green barrier cloth that you normally see at construction sites, to to keep debris out of the streams.

 

3.12.2022 -There will not be a transportation bond in November. Note the same “fog” talking point that was mentioned in the DOT 3 year work plan to claim that the DOT has no idea what the current shortfalls are. That is two years in a row that they have failed to tell the residents of this state the unmet transportation needs that can be expected over the next 3 years…

 

3.04.2022 – Truck traffic has been 24/7 for the past 3 weeks or so, dumping hundreds of loads of material in the field south of Eastern Avenue to I-395. Slamming tailgates and jake brakes have woken me up more than once at 3:30 in the morning. Why the rush when this is a 3 year project? Maybe this US DOT FHWA Memorandum has something to do with it – spells out what the new infrastructure funding should fund. As I read this, this connector may not have been funded under this bill; I can think of several arguments against that.

Also this memo emphasizes how the FHWA should deal with the NEPA process which is comical at best since the FHWA manager of this study stated in December 2011 that the (2B-2) preferred alternative, what is being constructed right now for $84 million, did not meet purpose and needs of the project study. This FHWA Manager was apparently taken to the woodshed and silenced by FHWA and MaineDOT management and within 3 months the Draft EIS was published.

 

 

2.19.2022 – All the tree clearing equipment from Eastern Avenue north to Eaton Brook has been removed to other sites, reducing a previously forested area to piles upon piles of wood chips for as far as you can see. Pictures taken today:

Eastern Avenue looking north.

Easton Brook (approx. 2,500′ from Eastern Avenue) looking north towards Lambert Road.

Looking to Eastern some 900′ north of Eastern Ave. The patch of white used to be a house.

Approximately 900′ north of Eastern Avenue looking north.

 

Looking back to Eastern Avenue from Eaton Brook.

Lambert Road looking north to Clewleyville Road.

 

Lambert Road looking south. Note the blue house off in the distance (center of picture) that is right next to the connector. Sargent mentioned one house would be moved, but not sure if this is the one. House can also be seen at a different angle in the picture below.

 

 

2.16.2022 – Interesting observation: The DOT has not updated their official connector website since 5.06.2021. The last time this project was in newsprint was a Bangor Daily News article on 7.22.2012. What has happened since then? The final engineering plans were completed, the project went out to bid and the contract was awarded to Sargent on 1.04.2022. Project is now in high gear, as can be seen by pictures of the tree clearing in the area of Eastern Avenue in Brewer over the past month. Clearing is also ongoing in the area of Lambert Road, Clewleyville Road and Route 9. If the MaineDOT is so proud of this project, it seems odd that they have not gone on a media blitz to promote it -OR- are they afraid of reminding everyone that they are spending tens of millions on a project that the City of Brewer and many of its citizens did not support? What makes this silence even more curious is the amount of media pushed by the MaineDOT this week surrounding a MaineDOT hard hat recently found in Norway.  Hmmm….

 

 

2.11.2022 – Pictures taken from approximately 550 to 600 feet from Eastern Avenue in both directions; footprint has been stumped and tree removal and chipping continues.

Looking north.

Looking south towards Eastern Avenue.

 

2.06.2022 – More pictures of work in progress:

In the field just south of Eastern Avenue looking towards I-395.

 

House adjacent to just south of Eastern Avenue; this house was once shrouded by trees.

 

In the field looking north across Eastern Avenue.

 

North of Eastern Avenue looking back towards I-395.

 

2.02.2022 – If you are so inclined, click here for the contractor prints from the bid package for the connector. I was able to determine the cut profile behind my property that will exist when they grade for the Eastern Avenue underpass.

2.02.2022 – The facts don’t lie as presented by TRIP:

 

It is fiscally irresponsible to add one more foot of asphalt to a system that you are unable to maintain; $84 million would go a long way to fixing Maine’s failed infrastructure.

1.31.2022 – At the end of the day, the footprint for 2B-2 has become more apparent:

Left of center line looking north a the end of the day.

Picture taken on center line looking north.

Right side of center line.

The north side of Eastern Avenue going east.

The north side of Eastern Avenue going west.

 

1.31.2022 – Tree clearing has almost reached Eastern Avenue; these two pictures were taken on Eastern Avenue looking north.

The first picture is on center line but hard to get the true effect because of the pile of downed trees. The second picture was taken slightly left of center line where you can see the full width of the cut. What you see in the second picture will be graded down some 32′ to facilitate going under Eastern Avenue.

1.30.2022 – More pictures in the vicinity of Eastern Avenue. The tree clearing will probably be completed in the Eastern Avenue area early this week.

The first picture was taken from the connector C/L on Eastern Avenue looking north; they are some 75′ or so from completing the cutting going south to Eastern from Eaton Brook. The second picture is just west of the C/L looking north.

 

The next three pictures are looking south at I-395 from Eastern Avenue. The third picture is on C/L; the second picture is just east of C/L and the third picture shows a house that was once hidden by the trees that are now laying on the ground.

 

1.29.2022 – Tree cutting has started in earnest. The following pictures are probably the first 1/2 mile or so of the connector in my immediate world:

The first 3 pictures looking north starting from a location approximately 600-700 feet north of Eastern Avenue:

 

 

Next 2 pictures are looking south at approximately 600 feet north of Eastern Avenue in the vicinity of station 114.00; this area will be graded another 19′ until it meets the grade of the above picture. The connector goes under Eastern Avenue.

 

This pictures is representative of the width of the cut:

1.26.2022 – It’s been over 3 weeks since the DOT granted the contract for the connector project and not a peep from the DOT – nothing on the official DOT website and nothing from a news release, yet today I walked up the street, following the noise of tree cutting and found a gentleman from Sargent that in 20 minutes gave me a breakdown of what would be happening in my immediate neighborhood. The footprint will become evident as soon as tomorrow with tree cutting from Eaton Brook to  Eastern Avenue; the Eastern Avenue underpass will not start until March of 2023.

Here’s his card; he will be the one to go to as the project progresses – real nice guy and easy to talk to:

1.22.2022 – First posting – Bangor Daily News article from 1.18.2022. Note that even with all of the influx of funding, the DOT will not tell us how that affects the unmet transportation needs for our state:

 

Second posting – MaineDOT Work Plan – 2022 Edition:

 

Third posting – For the second year in a row, the MDOT refuses to provide a monetary figure for Maine’s unmet transportation funding (shortfalls in annual budget). The following pages are removed from the above Work Plan – give it a read and see that they fail to identify current and near future unmet needs:

 

Fourth posting – Official News Realease from MaineDOT:

 

1.04.2022 – DOT finally updates their bid website to award construction project:

1.01.2022 – Rumor has it that the connector project was awarded and will start Monday.  Nice that the DOT let us know!! I was just on the DOT website and the bid has not been updated to show that it was awarded. And they wonder why we don’t trust them…

On 12.08.2021, 2 bids were opened for the connector: