The long anticipated Route 27 Reconstruction Project will likely begin in mid-August, according to Maine Department of Transportation. State Rep. Holly Stover announced the department’s plan in a recent Facebook post that a contractor has been conditionally picked by MaineDOT. All States Construction of Sunderland, Massachusetts was the low bidder. “We are in the process of awarding the project which requires the contractor to submit documentation, a process that typically takes as much as three weeks,” wrote Rob Betz, MaineDOT Midcoast Regional Program director.

The project has a projected July 2025 completion date. During the July 10 Boothbay selectmen’s meeting, Town Manager Dan Bryer updated the board on the project’s tentative timeline. Selectman Russ Pinkham asked Bryer why a 2024 summer project was being bid out in June instead of earlier this spring. Bryer didn’t know the answer.

On July 19, the Boothbay Register asked Betz about the project’s delay. He wrote, “The project was delayed by one month due to new permitting requirements presented to us by the Army Corps of Engineers just as we were ready to advertise. This process necessitated a 30-day waiting period for comments. We have since advertised the project, and received bids on July 10.” 

The construction budget is $10.7 million. The project includes cold-in-place recycling of the existing pavement to a depth of four inches, shim, overlay, and drainage improvements from the Boothbay roundabout to Route One. The contractor will also mill and resurface from Route 96 in Boothbay Harbor to the roundabout. 

The project includes day and night work. Betz expects paving work may require longer closures to occur between 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. The reconstruction includes replacing three culverts. One near Boothbay Railway Village Museum is likely to interrupt traffic the most. “With the depth of the culvert, we anticipate the need for temporary signals and lane shifts in order to replace it,” he wrote.

Betz anticipates work will begin “as soon as possible.”

MaineDOT performed a Virtual Public Involvement presentation in April before the schedule setback. A slideshow of some more details can be found at https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/1392e9d1b1fc4edb94516ce92891eb2b