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December 10, 2015

Presque Isle downtown bypass could be completed by 2018

The construction of a long-debated bypass around Presque Isle’s downtown for commercial trucks may begin next year, once the state acquires the private property needed to build the roadway.

The Bangor Daily News reported that the $14 million, 1.5-mile bypass section will allow trucks heading to and from businesses east of Presque Isle in Easton — McCain Foods, a Canadian-owned company that produces potato products, and Huber Engineered Woods — to avoid the downtown and residential areas.

The Maine Department of Transportation is finalizing the land acquisitions and drainage rights for the route between Conant and Fort Fairfield roads, the BDN reported. Four homes and two commercial properties will be affected by the route.

The route, which may become the first of two or three sections of a Presque Isle bypass, is set to open in 2018. The proposed second phase would be a roughly 5-mile road that would be be built east off of U.S. Route 1 and connect with Route 10 and Conant Road, according to the BDN. Construction for that section is supposed to start in 2018, but it has previously faced resistance.

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