What’s the worst road in Biddeford? City officials want you to decide.
At the November 3, 2020 Election, Biddeford voters will be asked to support two General Obligation Bonds totaling $17.5 million to address longstanding maintenance needs for City facilities, sewer systems, and streets throughout the community. If voters approve Municipal Referendum Question 2, there will be $3.75 million in funds available to improve roads, sidewalks, and drainage systems in Biddeford. At least half of this $3.75 million in road improvement funding would be dedicated to addressing the longstanding paving needs on residential streets.
“There is a limited amount of capital improvements that can be budgeted for each year, and for the past several years many of the annual paving projects were to improve Biddeford’s main roads. We’ve asked voters to support this bond so that we can begin to address less-traveled streets that are now in need of significant attention,” Mayor Alan Casavant said.
At the beginning of October, resident who believe they live or travel on the “worst road in Biddeford” were asked to nominate the road on the City’s website. Among the submissions from over 140 residents, the top five most-nominated streets were Grayson Street, Edwards Avenue, Wilson Street, Dearborn Avenue, and Harrison Avenue.
Now through November 3, residents are asked to select the road that they would most like to see paved from these five options. The road with the most votes in the poll by November 3 will be named "Biddeford's Worst Road" and will be guaranteed to be paved if voters approve Municipal Referendum Question 2.
Findings from a 2019 assessment by StreetScan, a software tool that assesses the condition of roads and sidewalks, show that it would take $33 million to appropriately update all of the City’s roads and an additional $12 million to address sidewalk needs.
“We are very aware of the issues on all of the streets that were nominated by residents. However, we are also aware that even if this bond passes, we still won’t be able to immediately fix every street in the community that needs attention,” Mayor Casavant said. “This contest has been great way to hear directly from our residents about the problems they would most like to see fixed with the limited funding we would have available.”
Option 1: Grayson Street
Option 2: Edwards Avenue
Option 3: Wilson Street
Option 4: Dearborn Avenue
Option 5: Harrison Avenue
