Route 11: Three weeks until project is finished

By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

CASCO — For the past few months, residents and commuters have enjoyed a smooth ride on Route 11.

The frost heaves and car-jarring cracks have been replaced with reclaimed, cement-injected pavement. Ultra-wide shoulders make driving a pleasure.

Lately, road construction crews have been putting a nice, shim layer on the road so that it will be ready for this weekend’s Patrick Dempsey Challenge, according to Maine Department of Transportation Project Engineer Tim Storer.

All the reclamation work has been completed on the 10.5-mile stretch of Route 11. The section of road runs from the Route 302 junction in Naples to White Oak Hill Road at the traffic lights in Poland, he said.

“The reclamation is all done. They did the final cement treatments,” Storer said.

Most recently, about three miles of Route 11 were shimmed just in time for the Dempsey Challenge.

During the next three weeks, the crews from White Brothers Division of Lane Construction Crews will return to those sites that have been paved and shimmed for the final treatment, surface paving.

That application of pavement fresh from the asphalt plant will be the icing on the cake — along with the striping that contributes to a safer driving experience.

However, it won’t happen without a few traffic delays — brief but constant lane closures — during the months of September and October.

Drivers should be aware that there will be one-lane closures along Route 11, starting at Route 302 and going toward the Casco-Poland line, Storer said.

“They’ll probably do large chunks of surface paving, get that done, then we’ll do the striping,” he said.

Surface paving requires between 1½ inch and 2 inches of asphalt, he said.

All of the surface paving must be completed by Oct. 18. However, work on driveways can go beyond that date, he said.

The wrap-up of the project is the completion of aprons and driveways, bringing those public and residential roadways to the same level as the new pavement. The objective will be to match the incline with the areas of roadway where people drive onto and off Route 11.

“We will put anywhere from a 2- to 4-foot lip on gravel driveways so there is pavement at the end of our shoulders,” he said.

That part of the project will utilize reclaimed pavement and other material, he said.

Storer anticipates another three weeks of surface paving before that job is done.

“That is weather-dependent. They cannot pave in the rain, and frost or cold weather will hold them up,” he said.