Poland eyes final mile on Route 26

POLAND — The massive reconstruction of Route 26 is mostly complete – but the “final mile” in Poland is still on the drawing board.

This summer, the Maine Department of Transportation rebuilt Route 26 from the intersection of Route 122 to Brown Road in the Poland Village.

“I will be attending a meeting in Augusta with the Maine Department of Transportation officials who are designing the ‘final mile’ between Brown Road and Five Corners in the village,” said Town Manager Dana Lee. “They have a design engineer on board and they're taking comments from affected communities. I’m going up there to discuss when this might happen, what this might look like and such things as lighting, sidewalks and center turn lanes."

Lee said that he hoped to benefit from the meeting.

"They are talking about changing some alignments – I want to know a little more about that," said Lee. "Also, I think they're going to put in some sort of an underground storm water drainage system. I need to learn a little more about that, too.”

However, Lee said that he feels fortunate that the project is on MDOT’s radar so quickly. The first section of Route 126 lingered for more than a decade, he said.

“Now that they have most of that done they are anxious to finish up Poland and get out here and I’m thrilled,” he added.

The funding for the project has not been identified, but Lee spoke optimistically of finding the financial backing.

“We still don't know about construction money," said Lee. "I think that's still up in the air, but the closer this thing gets to being fully designed, the better the chances are to get it funded. This is the first step and we will work closely with them and watch out for our collective interest.”