A bridge to opportunity
New structure to connect Augusta's East Side, I-95
Copyright © 2002 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
Construction of Augusta's newest bridge over the Kennebec River is fully under way, and planners are painting a bright picture of its impact on the East Side of the city.
Photo by ELLIOTT POTTER Earth moving proceeds on the Interstate-95 interchange for Augusta's third bridge, just south of the northbound I-95 rest area. Work on the $35 million job is projected to finish a year ahead of schedule, in 2004. click to enlarge
The bridge project also involves building a limited access road stretching from Interstate 95 on its western end to Route 3 at a rural point east of Augusta near Fort Western Tire Co. It will bisect Route 104 (West River Road), cross the river, bisect U.S. Route 201, and continue overland to join Route 3. Thirty land parcels were acquired for the access road.
Work around the new four-ramp I-95 interchange has been under way since early summer by M&H Logging and Construction of Rangeley. In this first phase of construction, trees have been removed and grading for the new spur continues east of the highway.
Construction next will include the $15 million bridge itself, then grading to Route 3, northbound and southbound I-95 overpass bridges, a bridge over Eight Rod Road, final paving, guardrails, the rest of gravel and signals, and mitigation to soften the impact of the corridor along Route 3. Plans are already in place for how the land along the highway on Augusta's East Side will be used.
Michael Duguay, the city's director of economic and community development, said that there are some 1,500 acres owned by about 10 landowners on either side of the highway east of where the bridge access road will join Route 3. This zone, which extends past LaPointe Lumber Co. almost to Rocky's Stove Shoppe, is where most of the new growth will take place. Some of the property was already zoned for commercial use, some was rezoned.
Future development of the land, however, is likely to be different from the strip development that besets so many communities. Duguay said that because the new highway will be designed to move traffic from I-95 to Route 3 in three to five minutes, instead of 15 minutes "on a good day," speed limits will be higher, probably 40 to 45 mph. State statute mandates that access to such a highway be restricted, he said.
Rather than businesses with storefronts or parking right on the highway, planners envision a series of business parks, set back off the highway on either side of it but tied to it by access roads. Part of the reason for setbacks is safety, but part is also to make the area more appealing visually. Developers, working with the Augusta Planning Board, will be encouraged to provide parking at the rear of the structures instead of in front, wherever possible.
The developments may be composed of retail businesses, such as Fort Western Tire, which will relocated farther off the highway, or they may be made up of office buildings as the need for those increases. Overall, Duguay expects that proper planning will allow these properties to appreciate in value over time and will grow to represent a significant part of Augusta's tax base.
Residential areas will surround these 5-to-20-acre "business park" clusters, buffered by woods or landscaping. Duguay said the layout might resemble the University of Maine at Augusta, the Augusta Civic Center and the office building cluster off Civic Center Drive on the other side of the river.
Part of DOT's plan to minimize the adverse impact on the Route 3 neighborhood will be to preserve and enhance open space and wetlands east of the new Route 3 intersection.
Duguay envisions a new section of town with commercial, professional and residential neighbors living in harmony in a pleasant setting.
"It extends the same benefits as Civic Center Drive," he said. "It opens up a whole new playing field."
In fact, Augusta's Board of Trade, the organization that was formed several years ago to develop Civic Center Drive and build the civic center itself, has purchased some 50 acres in the new Route 3 growth zone, Duguay said.
Route 3 businesses would not be alone in benefiting from the new bridge. Riverside Drive businesses on U.S. Route 201 will also be rewarded by the increased traffic and the improved access to I-95.