The city is soliciting bids for the first phase of the William Clarke Drive reconstruction project, a project that has been on hold since 2002.
City Administrator Jerre Bryant said the administration was going to ask the City Council for authorization to seek bids on the project Monday night, after the American Journal’s press time.
This will be the first of a planned three-phase project designed to make the heavily-traveled William Clarke Drive safer for both pedestrians and traffic alike. The project was originally supposed to begin over three years ago, but the city put the project on hold because it didn’t have the money to pay for it. Bryant said the project was going to be paid for by money from the downtown tax increment financing district, but downtown growth did not meet expectations, and the money was not there to pay for the project.
Instead of going forward with the project, Bryant said the city elected to delay construction to seek federal and state highway money to pay for construction. Bryant said the city was told the scope of the project was too large to secure funding for it to be done all at once, so it was necessary to split the project into three phases.
Now the city has secured federal and state highway money for the first phase of the $2 million project, and if the council authorizes the city to seek bids, Bryant said construction could start this spring. The project is being paid for with $1 million from a Federal Highway Administration grant, $414,000 from the Maine Department of Transportation, $500,000 in city money and $40,000 from Hannaford.
The first phase will reconstruct the intersection of the Westbrook Arterial and William Clarke Drive, altering the road to allow traffic to flow more smoothly from the arterial to William Clarke Drive. In addition, the road from Main Street by the Public Safety Building leading to William Clarke Drive will be narrowed to accommodate the changes.
Bryant said the first phase of construction will stop at the lights in front of the entrance to Hannaford’s on William Clarke Drive. He said he expects the construction to be completed by spring 2007, and there will be no significant road closures connected with the project. “We will always have one lane open in each direction,” he said.
The second phase of the project, for which the city has already applied for federal and state money, will widen the road from Hannaford to Spring Street and add medians in the center of the road to make it easier for pedestrians to cross, Bryant said. The third phase of the project will extend improvements from Spring Street to Mechanic Street. Bryant said it could be some time before the entire project is completed.
“Realistically, we’re talking two to four years on phase two and four to six years on phase three,” he said.
Bryant said there will be some work taking place on the entire length of William Clarke Drive this summer in advance of phases two and three. He said the city will be adding a sidewalk down the northern side of the road to match the one that exists on the southern side. The city will also be installing a traffic light at the Mechanic Street intersection.
“Mechanic Street and William Clarke Drive desperately need a signalized intersection,” Bryant said.
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