Image / Courtesy State of Maine
From roads and bridges to wastewater stations and drainage infrastructure, 39 storm recovery and resilience projects across Maine will receive $25.2 million in grants to get underway.
August 12, 2024
$25M in state funds will help 39 communities rebuild from winter storms
File Photo / Fred Field
The working waterfront on Custom House Wharf in Portland, seen during a storm in January 2024.
From roads and bridges to wastewater stations and drainage infrastructure, over three dozen storm recovery and resilience projects across Maine will receive a total of $25.2 million in grants to help them get underway.
Gov. Janet Mills announced last week that her administration is awarding the grants to 39 communities across Maine to help them recover and build more resilient infrastructure following last winter's devastating storms.
"We are working closely with towns and cities to take decisive action that will protect our people, our communities, and our economy from the destructive impacts of climate change,” said Mills, who recently participated in a ribbon-cutting on one such project — a major causeway upgrade in Kennebunkport.
The awards will fund work to upgrade culverts, move or stabilize roads at risk of flooding, strengthen storm drainage infrastructure, and make other improvements to help communities mitigate the effects of intense storms, flooding and rising sea levels.
Examples of projects include:
- Matinicus: $75,000 to adapt a section of Harbor Road and make other improvements to improve the resiliency of the island's working waterfront.
- Lewiston: $200,000 to replace two corrugated metal pipe culverts on River Road to better withstand heavy water flow.
- Machiasport: $475,000 to move an exposed portion of Port Road 1,035 feet inland.
- Norridgewock Water District: $1.05 million to enhance the water transmission main that provides water for the entire town.
- Portland: $3.6 million to strengthen stormwater infrastructure in the Old Port, resulting in better drainage along the city's working waterfront.
- Rumford-Mexico Sewerage District: $4 million to renovate the existing wastewater pumping station and install a series of floodproofing measures.
"This grant funding will allow relocation of the main away from the failing embankment of the Kennebec River, increasing the resiliency of the water supply for both domestic water and fire protection,” said Robbie Bickford, board chair of the Norridgewock Water District.
For the Rumford-Mexico Sewer District — where Mexico, Rumford and Dixfield are served by an upstream wastewater collection system — an upgrade is long overdue, said Roland Arsenault, the district’s superintendent.
"This grant will help the Rumford-Mexico Sewer District improve storm and flood resilience at the Dix Avenue pump station,” said Arsenault.
“As the facility stands now, future floods could catastrophically damage the station and disrupt the essential operation of wastewater collection system infrastructure that residents and businesses in Mexico, Rumford and Dixfield rely on.”
The latest round of awards follows a total of $5.8 million in state relief, announced last week, to help 108 businesses and organizations recover from last winter's damaging storms.
The grants were the first awarded from the $10 million Business Recovery and Resilience Fund.
In April, the governor and Legislature approved $60 million in storm relief to help Maine working waterfronts, communities and businesses recover from recent storms and become more resilient to future severe weather.
To date, the state has awarded 68 working waterfronts a total of $21.2 million in grants to support their recovery and rebuilding.
The Maine Infrastructure Adaptation Fund provides one-time grants for significant infrastructure adaptation, repair and improvements that support public safety, protection of essential community assets and long-term infrastructure resiliency.
The fund was a recommendation of the state's climate action plan, called Maine Won’t Wait, to support community efforts to build climate resilience in Maine.
Click here for a full list of the new grant awards.
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