Emergency Funding Given For Work on Windham, Maine Rotary in August

I'm not sure what it is about this summer, but it seems like roads are in some pretty rough shape across the state. The worst road I've taken is when you get off the Maine Turnpike in Lewiston and take the eastbound ramp off Alfred A. Plourde Parkway that connects with Libson Street/Route 196. The pavement is so bad people are driving on the shoulder and have been for about a year at least.

It seems everything needs repair this summer and one of those roads that need it is the Windham Rotary connecting routes 302 and 202. According to the Windham Eagle, this rotary has been in place since 1951. It's one of only three rotaries in the state, not to be confused with roundabouts. Rotaries keep traffic moving quickly while roundabouts are meant to slow traffic down and are the modern way to deal with intersections with heavy traffic. They have a smaller traffic circle as compared to the Windham Rotary's larger traffic circle.

Earlier this year, the Maine DOT had set aside funds to repave the Route 302 rotary, but things like this have a tendency to get pushed off for any number of reasons. Sure enough, it was pushed back to late 2023 or 2024.

That's when State Senator Bill Diamond of Windham asked the MDOT to take a look at the pavement on the rotary to see if we can really wait for another one to two years to have it fixed. The answer was, no, we can't wait.

So now the Maine DOT has a plan to get the work done sometime in August but has not yet set a date as of this writing. So keep an eye out for construction signs soon, and expect some delays while the work is being done.