JAY — Maine Department of Transportation representatives opened six bids Wednesday for a project to improve an intersection at Route 133, Hyde Road and East Jay Road.
The bids are being reviewed and a contract will be awarded in the next couple of weeks, George Macdougall, MDOT contracts and specification engineer, said Thursday.
The bids for the project are Nelson Communications Services Inc. of Center Conway, N.H., $369,180; N.F. Luce Inc. of Anson, $376,896; E.L. Vining & Son Inc. of Farmington, $407,087; CPM Constructors of Freeport, $414,404; Pike Industries Inc. of Fairfield, $429,240; and Pratt & Sons Inc. of Mechanic Falls, $434,877, according to the DOT website.
The project is expected to start Oct. 1 and be completed by June 14, 2014.
There have been 14 accidents at the intersection over the past five years.
The town bought a vacant home, large barn and three acres on the site for $36,970.44 on April 30. The money came from the $200,000 voters raised in the 2012-13 budget to help make the intersection safer. The town razed the house but left the barn.
MDOT and the town partnered on the $480,000 project. Part of the town’s share is in-kind work, including demolishing the house and hauling the debris to Norridgewock.
Brian Keezer, an MDOT traffic project manager, said previously that they will be cutting back the slope on the northwest corner where the town recently purchased the property in order to increase sight distance looking left — north — as drivers pull out of Hyde Road.
The project also calls for cutting the grade on Route 133 to the north of the intersection to also improve sight distance, he said. The corner radius will be widened at Hyde Road so trucks turning right onto Route 133 will no longer have to cross into the northbound lane of Route 133, Keezer said.
Drainage will also be improved by creating new riprap ditches and replacing a couple of culverts, he said.
Representatives of Nelson Communications were at the site Thursday looking over plans and walking the property.
dperry@sunjournal.com
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