Main Street Should Be Ready for the Fourth
Despite construction, Bar Harbor's Lower Main Street Should Be Okay for Festivities, Town Pier Up and Running
BAR HARBOR—People worried about Bar Harbor’s famed Fourth of July parade route being blocked by construction can breathe a bit more easily after Bar Harbor Public Works Director Bethany Leavitt’s comments to the Bar Harbor Town Council, Tuesday.
She said that they hope to have the beginning of the parade route, which is currently under construction, bindered and able to be driven on by July Fourth.
The section on lower Main Street extends from Wayman Lane to Park Street, which is where the YMCA sits and also the town fields, which is where the Bar Harbor/MDI Rotary Club’s Seafood Festival and Pancake Breakfast occurs on the holiday.
The project along lower Main Street extends from Wayman Lane to Cromwell Harbor Road. The section between Wayman and Park hosts multiple businesses, the hospital, and homes.
“Really, what they’re trying to do is the water main and storm drain up to Park,” Leavitt said of the current push of the project.
“I will say that some of the streetscape stuff might slow them down a bit,” Leavitt said, which means the town may need to revisit some of those sections. The town also needs to order some storm water structures. Waiting for those structures may also slow it down.
However, the section will be at least bindered and able to be driven on by July 4, she said.
The street is currently closed between Wayman and Park and then Park to Cromwell. The substantial completion date for the project is the middle of November. Once the water line is laid, the service connections need to be made. Then, the town will have to test the water.
Three inches of base pavement on Wayman to Cromwell will be laid before winter. After winter, loam, seeding, and two additional inches of pavement will occur.
“There’s light at the end of the tunnel,” Vice Chair Gary Friedmann said.
“There is,” Leavitt responded, “and it’s going to look good.”
The lower Main Street streetscape design is being integrated into the lower Main Street project. There is an engineering plan and an initial draft that has been sent to Maine DOT and the town has already engaged feedback from the state agency. Lark Studios will take the engineering plan and work in curb bump-outs at intersections to provide more sightlines for pedestrian safety especially at the crosswalks. There will be more crosswalks between Pleasant and Park Street, Leavitt said.
Final recommendations will be made by Lark and then the plan will be distributed to the Council.
Smith thanked Leavitt for her work on a complicated project in a sensitive location. “Its gone wonderful(ly). That’s a tribute to Bethany’s diligence and attention to detail,” Smith said.
TOWN PIER
Ell’s Pier, which was damaged by ocean surge during the winter storms is up and running again. It was officially opened to the public May 22.
The storms involved high tides and strong storm surges. Cracks across the pier’s pavement emerged. Town officials were concerned that there could be voids under the structure.
The January storms caused record damage up and down the Maine coast, destroying piers, roads, fish houses, and even exposing the wreck of a schooner on Sand Beach and decimating the popular Shore Path in Bar Harbor. The Shore Path is still closed. Most portions of the popular path are private property. There is a GoFundMe for its repair.
Photos and video: Carrie Jones/Bar Harbor Story
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
To watch the meeting on Town Hall Streams
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