Seeking Much Needed Road Work in Birch Harbor & Prospect Harbor | Public Spaces

Hi everyone,

 Today's topic is Route 186 from Birch Harbor to Prospect Harbor and the poor road conditions. One of the worst parts of the road is the section from the Prospect Point Road to the Winter Harbor town line. This road is horrible! The only way you can drive over it and not break a rod or bottom out your car is to have a speed of 15MPH or less! The road has giant pot holes and the entire road has bowed in the middle causing any vehicle that is low to the ground to scrape the underneath. On the sides of the road it is torn up so bad it is almost impossible to pull of the road in this area.

 In the February edition of Gouldsboro's newsletter it talks about this issue stating, “...have formally requested repairs for this portion of the Schoodic Scenic Byway several times, there is no plan to repair it in the near future.” I can't believe this! What is wrong with the state road commission? I am one of the lucky ones who's vehicle is high enough that I don't scrape when I drive over it, but even so, I still have to drive between 10-15 MPH in a 35 MPH zone.

Another section are the corners by the old Stinson's factory. This is a dangerous spot. When you are coming around these corner's you can't see the cars that would be coming from around that corner. Also, When driving down these corner's headed to Prospect Harbor there is little to no guard rails to stop and vehicle from sliding into the ocean during bad weather or in an accident. Right now there is an old wire railing up there that has fallen down over the banking that leads to the ocean. One other issue there is because of the poor road conditions the town can't plow the road right there very well causing a dangerous ice build up on the road that sometimes is many feet across the road. A bit further up the road in the section I spoke of before from Prospect Point to the Winter Harbor town line also can't be plowed properly because of the road conditions. The plow can't keep the blade on the tar without it jumping and bouncing up and down because of the holes and the arch of the road. When driving through this area in bad weather it become very scary because the snow and slush build up pulls your car into the ditch making it so you can't keep control of the vehicle.

My concerns of mostly for the safety of the people driving on the stretch of road. What is it going to take to get this fixed? So, I am encouraging as many people as I can to write to the engineer who is in charge of this section of road. I plan on writing a letter regarding this today.

You can write to this gentlemen and voice your concerns at the following address: Mr. John Devan, Regional Engineer 219 Hogan Road Bangor, ME. 04401

I hope by writing this I can encourage a few people in the town to write a their own letters and send them. Maybe with enough letters we can see the road get fixed in the future.