The section of Route 27 at Love’s Cove on Southport Island will be closed to traffic from Sept. 1 to 30 so that the culvert can be replaced, according to a letter reviewed at the Southport selectmen’s meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 26.

Bruce Surek, Project Manager at CPM Constructors in Freeport, sent the letter informing area officials of the closure. Southport selectmen said they were glad to learn that the state had authorized the work after two years of requests from the town. The culvert had been put in place in the 1980s and decades of bad storms and saltwater had caused the corrugated steel to rot.   

The disintegrating culvert posed a serious safety issue along that section of Route 27, which is one of only two main roads on the island.

“The issue is life and safety,” Selectman and Fire Chief Gerry Gamage said. “We need to have safe access for ambulances, mutual aid, fire equipment and school buses.”  

Surek, who will manage the $200,000 Maine DOT project, explained the process in an interview with the Boothbay Register.

“Beginning Sept. 1, the road will be open to local traffic, but closed at the culvert. Traffic will be rerouted to the Cross Road and to Route 238 to accommodate the road closure,” said Surek.

The location and nature of the construction meant that permitting for the work involved many entities, including the Army Corps of Engineers, the Department of Environmental Protection and the Maine DOT.

The project specs call for a precast concrete box measuring 8 feet wide and 3 feet high with an open bottom to replace the previous steel culvert. The road will be given new gravel and pavement after the culvert is in place.

Utility poles and lines will need to be moved at times during the construction; Surek reassures residents that they will complete the project “as quickly as we can.” CPM Constructors has done similar culvert projects across the state. Residents with questions may call Surek in Freeport at 207-865-0000.