Maine Department of Transportation Commissioner David Cole, Passamaquoddy Governor Joseph Socobasin and other state and tribal officials gathered along the banks of Grand Lake Stream Tuesday (November 2, 2010) to officially open the new Milford Street Bridge in Grand Lake Stream Plantation.
The new $1.7 million bridge is the result of a unique funding partnership between the state and the tribe that improves transportation infrastructures that access or are on tribal lands.
The Passamaquoddy Tribe received $950,000 through the Federal Highway Administration and the Bureau of Indian Affairs for the replacement of the Milford Street Bridge. The state provided the matching funds of $750,000 to complete the project.
The funding provided by the Passamaquoddy Tribe allowed MaineDOT to replace the deteriorating Milford Street Bridge ahead of the projected work schedule. The funds provided by the Passamaquoddy Tribe also allowed MaineDOT to shift funds originally allocated for the Milford Street Bridge towards other needed transportation projects.
This is the first of three projects scheduled to be completed under the partnership. Later this year, a contract will be awarded for the next project, replacement of the Route 1 Bridge between Indian Township and Princeton. Next summer, crews are expected to start work on the reconstruction of the Grand Lake Stream Road, a ten-mile road that connects Route 1 and Grand Lake Stream. The road travels through and accesses tribal land.
MaineDOT Commissioner David Cole and Passamaquoddy Governor Joseph Socobasin mark the MaineDOT/Tribal Partnership with a ribbon cutting at the Milford Street Bridge in Grand Lake Stream Plantation. Pictured, from left to right, are: Bob Tyler, Indian Township Tribal Government; Devin Anderson, MaineDOT; Roger Ritter, Indian Township Tribal Government; Governor Joseph Socobasin, Indian Township Tribal Government; Commissioner David Cole, MaineDOT; Robert Impson Bureau of Indian Affairs; Cheryl Martin, Federal Highway Administration; Lieutenant Governor Clayton Sockabasin, Indian Township Tribal Government; and Dana Altavater, Indian Township Tribal Government.