York Town News
Light at the end of the tunnel for intersection project
Jennifer L. Saunders
YORK - For about a decade now, plans have been in discussion to redesign the intersection of Route 91 and Route 1 to include a stoplight governing traffic in all directions.As of this past week, it looks like those plans are moving forward.
"There will be a traffic light there," York Public Works Director Bill Bray confirmed.
Bray said the latest word from the Maine Department of Transportation is that a contract has been awarded for the project.
At this time, Bray said, the town has not yet been apprised of a start date.
As residents and visitors alike who often wait in line at the Route 91 stop sign well know, and as officials have often acknowledged, it has been years in the making.
Bray said MDOT will contact the town to set up a preconstruction meeting. The project is state-funded, with $200,000 in contributions set aside by Hannaford during the approval of the supermarket project several years ago.
The town's contribution will be funding for a sidewalk, he said.
"Other than that, we'll have to work with them for the detours and the traffic impacts on the town," Bray noted.
With only the final months of the construction season still remaining this year, Bray surmised that the intersection project will need to continue next year.
"I would say it would take them until around the first of August," he said.
Bray said the project predates his four years as director of the Department of Public Works, estimating the conceptual plan dates back about 10 years.
