Penobscot road to close for a month next year for Mill Creek project

Dec. 13 information session to discuss closure of Bayview Road in March, part of a $4.6M project to replace culvert, move salt shed, and create wildlife viewing area

A truck crosses the culvert at Mill Creek in Penobscot, which will be rebuilt in 2026, shutting down the road for a month. Photo by John Boit.

By John Boit

PENOBSCOT–The recently announced $4.6 million Mill Creek project will close a major town for up to a month next year, a move that has implications for schools, postal delivery and emergency services.

Select board chair Harold Hatch said the Maine Department of Transportation has recommended a complete road shutdown for roughly 30 days in March in order to replace the road’s culvert in a single, continuous operation.

“We’re looking at a full road closure for 30 days,” Hatch told The Rising Tide.

The town’s select board is holding a public information session on the project on Saturday, Dec. 13 at 10 a.m. at the Penobscot Fire Department. 

Tens of thousands of alewives pass through the culvert at Mill Creek on their way to Pierce’s Pond, where they spawn each May. Photo by John Boit.

The Mill Creek project along Bayview Road is one of the biggest infrastructure improvements undertaken by the town in decades. When completed, the town’s salt shed and sand pile will have been moved to a new location on the Western County Road, part of a plan to eliminate the possibility of road salt leaching into an adjacent marsh. At the same time, it will replace a culvert and rebuild a road that regularly floods at king tides and during storms.  

Mill Creek is a vital passageway for fish. Smelts swim up the creek in April, followed by alewives in May, using the waterway as a migratory highway to spawn in Pierce’s Pond. The alewives also draw dozens of Bald eagles who perch in nearby trees or along the banks of the marshland’s creek, waiting for each day’s tidal dinner bell.

But the eagles, in turn, draw local onlookers, tourists, and wildlife photographers who park their cars along the narrow road, causing safety concerns among town officials. For that reason, the new road over the culvert will also include a pedestrian area for wildlife viewing, Hatch said,

Bids for the project are expected to be opened on Friday, Dec. 12, with the town awarding the contract the following day before its scheduled public hearing. Two contractors attended a pre-bid site visit this month, and a total of five companies have expressed interest in the work, Hatch said.

One contractor indicated that, if awarded the project, work could begin as early as March of 2026.

“My suspicion is the others may be in the same boat,” Hatch said.

To encourage a timely completion, the town has offered a financial incentive.

“We offer a $10,000 bonus if they can get it finished this spring before the fish run,” Hatch said.

Hatch said late winter is the best time for the project, since “vegetation is dormant and there’s no fish activity.”

“There’s a lot of environmental stuff that’s into this that drives us into the winter project,” Hatch said.

Navigating a closed road

Hatch expects that a major focus at the Dec. 13 informational meeting will be on how the town plans to deal with access for school buses, ambulances, fire trucks, mail carriers and residents during the closure. He said town officials have begun discussions with essential agencies.

“As soon as we figure out what’s going to happen, we’re gonna try to get a meeting with all of the people involved—the essential needs of fire departments and ambulances. There’s gonna be mail issues. There’s going to be school bus issues,” he said.

School children may need to traverse the “ATV bridge” during construction, located about 300 feet from Bayview Road. “It’s a little nature walk each day,” said Harold Hatch, chair of the Penobscot’s select board. Photo by John Boit.

One option under consideration is to use what is commonly referred to as “the ATV bridge,” about 300 feet upstream of Bayview Road, to allow school children to cross Mill Creek on foot and then board a bus on the other side. 

“It’s a little nature walk every day,” Hatch said.

Still, he emphasized that the logistics are not final.

“We’ve got notes on paper, but we have nothing concrete at this point,” he said.

Temporary bridge rejected

Some residents have already asked whether the town could minimize disruption by installing a temporary vehicle bridge. Hatch said the select board did look into that option, but it was ruled out due to cost and site limitations.

“That’s about a 30% increase in the cost of the project,” he said. “Plus, there’s really not a good option there because of the marsh land on the upside and the downside [of the road],” Hatch said.

A message to residents

Hatch acknowledged that the shutdown will cause frustration, and he expects strong opinions at the public meeting. But he urged residents to view the disruption in context.

“Some people are going to be upset with the road closure, but at the end of the day it’s only four weeks in the middle of the winter,” he said. “If the project takes a month and it can possibly save somebody from getting run over, then the sacrifice that we have to do as individuals will be worth it.”

While the town has much to consider in implementing the plan, Hatch said he anticipates the town will find ways to manage.

“This is an inconvenience, but life isn’t an easy street all the time,” he said. “We have inconveniences that we have to deal with, so this is one–and we’ll deal with it as a town.”

In addition to covering the Mill Creek project at the Dec. 13 information session, town officials will also discuss plans to purchase a chassis for a new fire truck. The information session will be followed by a special town meeting to vote on the fire truck chassis expenditure of $137,010.