CARIBOU, Maine — The new Caribou connector will open to vehicular traffic on Friday and the Maine Department of Transportation is joining the city’s parks and recreation department to throw a grand opening party.
The newly completed stretch of road connecting Route 161 and Route 1 just south of Caribou will open to foot and bicycle traffic at 10 a.m. on Friday, with the official ribbon cutting at 11 a.m. including remarks by David Bernhardt, Maine DOT commissioner.
The road then will open to vehicular traffic at 1 p.m.
The opening events are centered around the connector’s intersection with Route 161 and parking will be available.
“We thought it would be a good idea before the road opens to vehicular traffic if people had the opportunity to go over it at a slower pace,” Kathy Mazzuchelli, with Caribou Parks and Recreation, said Tuesday afternoon. “This will give folks a chance to see some of the new technology used in the construction.”
Spectators will have the opportunity to bike, walk, run or rollerblade 3.8 miles over four lanes of new roadway, Mazzuchelli said. Van tours will also be available.
Some of the key features incorporated into the new connector include a “critter crossing” for wildlife, a “Bridge-in-a-Backpack,” and specific drainage technology to meet environmental regulations.
“These things all make the connector very unique,” Mazzuchelli said. “These are things you might not see when you cross it at 50 miles per hour.”
The 3.8-mile-long, $20 million Caribou Connector was recommended as part of a larger Aroostook County Transportation Study.
Work began in 2010 on the connector, which begins just south of the Caribou Country Club on Route 161 and heads east, passes over Route 1 and again over Route 89 and continues west until it connects with routes 1 and 89 south of Bennett Drive.
Entrance and exit ramps are in place leading to and from Route 1, commonly called Van Buren Road in the area.
Funded jointly by the state and federal governments, the route was designed to minimize effects on existing downtown businesses and on agricultural operations.
if anyone shows up there most likely not from caribou
Hey I’m from Caribou and we’ll be there…..do you think they’ll let my four year old son drive his battery powered jeep lol
Do you think 20 million dollars could have been spent to enhance the safety of regularly used county roads?
Waste, waste, waste of money…plus, it is a 4 lane highway!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my goodness….”critter crossing” ….please explain to me how a moose will know to go cross at a specific place….come on folks…let us be reasonable…I can find many useful ways that the 20 million dollars could have been used…winter coming…many homeless people….build them homes….waste, waste, waste….
THIS IS “THE HIGHWAY TO NO-WHERE” I THINK CARIBOU IS GOING TO REGRET THIS, ALREADY THERE ISN’T MUCH IN CARIBOU BUT WHEN TRUCKS COME THROUGH THEY STOP AT ALL THE CONVENIENCE STORES FOR COFFEE & ETC. NOW THEY WILL KEEP ON TRUCKING & SO WILL I.
It will save streets from get torn up by heavy trucks and reduce downtown traffic. Sweden Street gets destroyed by heavy trucks year after year. Why so negative? The money is better spent on a roadway in Aroosrook County than in Southern Maine. Come on people!!!
It will soon be renamed the Caribou Killer. Connector it connects nothing to caribou, rather redirects traffic around the town. HUGE waste of money