Construction begins on Oak Hill Road connector

Posted: Friday, May 2, 2014 12:48 pm | Updated: 12:53 pm, Fri May 2, 2014.

STANDISH - For two decades, the town of Standish has sought to fix the five-way intersection, prone to congestion, where Oak Hill Road merges with Route 25 and intersects Route 35.

Now, following a failed 2013 bond issue meant to pay for the project, the town has finally commenced construction on a new cross-connector road designed to alleviate the traffic problems.

In early April, Gorham-based Shaw Brothers Construction began building the new road, which connects Oak Hill Road and Route 25 just west of the current intersection. The easternmost stretch of Oak Hill Road, a few hundred yards in length, will become Oak Hill Ext., a one-way street accessible only to westbound vehicles. The new cross-connector road, which runs past Standish House of Pizza, will become part of Oak Hill Road.

According to Town Manager Gordon Billington, the town has long sought to fix the intersection.

The project has been identified for a great many years by the town of Standish as a much-needed improvement, Billington said. Youll see it in earlier comprehensive plans dating back at least 20 years.

Momentum for the intersection improvements began to build after Gray-based Gorrill-Palmer Engineering identified the project in a Route 25 study with the towns Roadway Planning Committee in the mid-2000s, Billington said.

In 2013, town voters rejected a $500,000 bond that would have funded the improvements. Following the defeat, the town successfully applied for $500,000 in state-administered Municipal Partnership Initiative funds to complete the project. The town, using funds from a previous bond issue, has spent about $477,000 purchasing, demolishing and relocating two nearby structures in order to build the cross-connector road, according to Billington.

We were going to pay 100 percent out of taxpayer funding, so I think this is much better, certainly, having the state pay for the intersection improvements, he said. It is a failed intersection, so thats high on DOTs priority to address that.

The town has also acquired construction easements from abutters Paul Thompson and the Standish House of Pizza.

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Construction begins on Oak Hill Road connector