Six Contractors Have Committed To Fix Seawall For Free

Week of work begins July 22

Jul 18, 2024

SOUTHWEST HARBOR—Work on the Seawall Road in Southwest Harbor is slated to begin on Monday, July 22, and if all goes well, the Seawall Road will receive a temporary reconstruction that will allow it to be used again once that work is completed.

A post by John Goodwin Jr. Construction states that they hope to have that work completed in just one week and have the road back open with two lanes of traffic by Friday, July 26.

The temporary fix is made possible by six mostly local companies who are donating the work to the communities of Southwest Harbor and Tremont.

During the fix, the area will be closed to pedestrian traffic so that the contractors will have a space to work.

As of July 17, those six companies—John W Goodwin, Jr., BFP Trucking & Construction, Doug Gott & Sons, GT Outhouses, Ring’s Paving Co. and Northeast Paving can officially do the work thanks to a temporary work order created by Town Manager Marilyn Lowell has been approved by the Southwest Harbor Select Board at its July 17 meeting.

The companies will “repair Seawall Road in a safe and passable manner for two-way traffic and prevent impact to the surrounding natural resources within Acadia National Park. The proposed repair work will return the road to substantially the condition as prior to the storm damage that occurred earlier this year.”

The road had been destroyed during multiple winter storms and not repaired. The MaineDOT said earlier this week that it intends to start work for a permanent fix in spring 2025 and it gave the go-ahead for the town to work with the local contractors to make a temporary fix.

That temporary fix includes removing the broken pavement, repaving, moving stones off the road and on its shoulder that is not on the ocean side, and sloping and repairing the side shoulder.

All the companies are doing the work as a charitable donation.

MaineDOT recommendations for next steps include that temporary work, developing agreements between the state and the National Park Service and the Town of Southwest Harbor about the road’s sustainability, and placing Gabion baskets, grout bags, and beach cobble along the ocean side of the road that extend out beyond the pavement, replacing the missing pavement structure, overlaying the damaged section, and replacing a cross-pipe with a larger elliptical pipe.

DOT’s timeline of events via July 12 memo

The memo accompanying the letter suggests the state pursues FEMA funding and also secure a renewed special use permit from the National Park Service to make the repairs.

“Like many residents of Southwest Harbor and Tremont, I have been frustrated by the ongoing closure of Seawall Road and the uncertainty about its future,” said Senator Nicole Grohoski in a press release July 16. “I am grateful that MDOT has listened to community members and announced a path forward for both short- and long-term repairs. Repairing Seawall Road will reconnect important public and private sector partners and increase public health and safety. I will continue to work with town leaders and state agencies to facilitate a short-term repair as quickly as possible.”