Maine DOT three-year work plan for the Acadia Region Explained.

Shaun Farrar

Mar 26, 2026

SOUTHWEST HARBOR—The winter storms of 2024 rendered the beloved Seawall Road in Southwest Harbor impassable until July 26, 2024, when six local construction companies finished making repairs on their own, free of charge, to help stymie the issues of lost summer revenue for businesses and increased travel times, especially for emergency responses.

Those community fixes to the looping road which joins Southwest Harbor to Tremont and also to Acadia National Park’s Seawall Campground, Ship Harbor Trail, and Wonderland Trail are considered temporary.

During the gap between the storm damage and temporary repair, the State of Maine DOT (DOT) planned, presented plans, and proposed fully repairing the road in spring 2025 while adding resiliency features. Those planned DOT repairs did not happen.

Since the volunteer led and free repairs, there’s been back and forth between the town of Southwest Harbor, Acadia National Park, and MaineDOT about how to pay for permanent repairs and upkeep.

In June of 2025, Acadia National Park received “supplemental funding from Congress to fund storm-related damages and is working with the state to fully fund the resiliency improvements at Seawall Road,” Southwest Harbor Town Manager Karen Reddersen wrote in her manager’s report at the time.

On February 24, 2026, Director of the Office of Communications and Creative Services for Maine DOT Andrew Gobeil replied to an email inquiry from the Bar Harbor Story regarding funding for the anticipated repairs of Seawall Road by stating, “We are in the process of executing a cooperative agreement with the National Parks Service to cover all costs with no state or local share.”

Now the issue is getting the funds to the proper place so the work can happen.

This unforeseen problem was spoken about at the League of Town’s meeting which took place on March 24 at Acadia National Park headquarters.

“As you know, we have set up an agreement with MDOT to reconstruct 1500 feet, and place the culvert in this area we know about,” Acadia National Park Management Assistant John T. Kelly said. “The agreement’s in place. Funding’s in place. Everything’s in place but for our financial assistance office is unable for some technical reason to be able to put the announcement into Grant Solutions so that the state can submit an application that’s done to issue the notice of award. We’ve been on this for weeks and it’s obviously getting pretty tight to get work done before July.”

Kelly said the park has done everything they can. On the DOT side, MaineDOT’s Regional Transportation Planner Jarod Farn-Guillette said that it’s been elevated to agency leadership.

The issue was described as a “glitch in the system.”

In the February 24 email, Gobeil also said, “We plan to conduct work this spring with a projected completion date in June. If, however, there are unanticipated delays in the process, we will revisit the schedule to avoid work during peak tourism months in July and August. If that occurs, we’ll consider construction in the fall or the following spring.”

Whether or not that “glitch in the system” is enough of an unanticipated delay to push the project back to the fall remains to be seen.

According to the work plan below and Gobeil, the cost of the project is estimated to be $1,130,000.

---

THREE YEAR DOT WORK PLAN BY TOWN

The three-year work plans for Bar Harbor, Mount Desert, Southwest Harbor, Tremont, and Trenton are all shown below.

With the exception of the Seawall Road repair, most of the road work that would involve traffic disruptions are smaller, limited area projects. In 2027 there is quite a bit of “light capital paving” scheduled across the island.

The work plans also show the DOT work by town that was completed in 2025.

All of the projects in the three-year plan can be viewed via the link to the interactive map at the end of the article.

---

BAR HARBOR

In Bar Harbor the work planned for this year includes drainage improvements for Route 3 beginning at Eden Street and heading east for approximately .72 miles. This means the work will be occurring on Mount Desert Street and a short distance on Main Street south of the Mount Desert Street intersection.

The 2026 work also includes replacement of a large culvert on the Crooked Road, approximately .02 miles east of Norway Drive and funding assistance for the purchasing of an Americans with Disabilities Act compliant gangway for one of the transient dockage floats on the east side of Ells Pier.

---

MOUNT DESERT

The scheduled work for this year in Mount Desert includes highway improvements on Route 3 beginning near the Upper Dunbar Road at the east end and continuing for approximately .66 miles south.

The work plan also includes drainage maintenance on Route 3 starting very near Walls Street and extending 9.90 miles to the northwest.

---

SOUTHWEST HARBOR

Besides the Seawall Road repair, the only DOT work scheduled for 2026 is related to harbor and working waterfront improvements,

---

TREMONT

The Town of Tremont has no DOT work scheduled on the work plan for 2026.

---

TRENTON

The bulk of the work scheduled for 2026 in Trenton will occur at the Hancock County-Bar Harbor Airport with some maintenance occurring at the newly opened Acadia gateway Center.

There is road work scheduled for 2026 in the form of a culvert replacement on Route 230 that is located .36 miles south of the Ellsworth town line. There is also slope stabilization work planned, the location of which is .49 miles north of the Bar Harbor town line and is part of the Thompson Island bridge.

---

MOUNT DESERT ISLAND

In the 2027 work plan there is scheduled light paving work that will occur in various locations across Mount Desert Island. The map below shows the areas of that planned light paving work and you can access the actual interactive map here.

---

The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Acadia Brochures of Maine.

---

HELP SUPPORT THE BAR HARBOR STORY

When we started The Bar Harbor Story, we didn’t know if anyone would read it. But you showed up. You shared. You sent tips. Now—over 400,000 views every month later—it’s clear: people here care about their community and each other.

We’ve kept everything free because news should never be out of reach, but every one of our stories takes time to write, and your support keeps The Bar Harbor Story going.

If you value our work, please consider a paid subscription, a founding membership, or a sponsorship.

It truly helps us cover one more meeting, tell one more story, shine one more light.

Even $5 a month makes a difference. Click here to become a one-time supporter now.

Thank you so much for being here.

Founding member information can be found here.

Have questions about sponsorships? Just send Shaun an email at sfarrar86@gmail.com, he’d love to hear from you.