WINDHAM – The third and final public hearing on the reconstruction of River Road in Windham takes place next week.

On Monday, July 30, project designers from the Maine Department of Transportation will be on hand to hear public input from 6-8 p.m. at the Windham High School auditorium.

River Road, known for its twists and hills, is a major commuter road linking North Windham with Westbrook. The section to be rebuilt extends from Route 202 in South Windham to Page Road in North Windham.

As motorists know well, the roadway wasn’t built on a solid foundation, and poor drainage has allowed it to slowly deteriorate. A full reconstruction would address these underlying conditions and would also smooth the contour of the road, filling in valleys and lowering hillcrests.

According to MDOT Project Manager Ernie Martin, there are only a few pieces of the reconstruction project not already in place. The last major piece is River Road’s intersection with Windham Center Road. Martin said he is hoping for public feedback to help designers finally decide between two concepts: a non-signalized center turn lane or a single-lane roundabout.

“We haven’t really come up with a conclusion, but from this hearing we’re hoping to get enough input to make that decision,” Martin said.

Martin said the goal of designers is to leave a better-built and safer roadway for motorists and pedestrians. He said the road redesign at the Windham Center Road intersection provides for improved sight distances since the roadbed approaching the intersection would be raised several feet. But by increasing sight distance, speeds will likely increase.

“That’s what I look at in any project: Is it safer after we’re done?” Martin said. “It’s a long stretch and straight, and we’re going to improve the sight distance of the intersection so speeds are going to be prevalent.”

Martin Shuer, a longtime advocate of the reconstruction project and a member of the project’s local public advisory committee, said the group met with Ernie Martin last week and seemed to favor the roundabout proposal.

“A notable focus of our discussion was how best to resolve the safety concerns at the River Road/Windham Center Road intersection. Two design alternatives…which will also be shown at the public hearing,” Shuer said. “The consensus was overwhelmingly for the roundabout option, which I also support in light of the significant bike/ped and other safety factors built into the design.”

Shuer said the single-lane, 120-foot-diameter roundabout design would likely cost $450,000-$600,000 and would incorporate pedestrian crosswalks and refuges. Paved shoulders or sidewalks on all sides of the intersection will be included for bicyclist and pedestrian safety.

“This design will calm the speed and flow of traffic and provide reasonable safety for bike/ped users,” Shuer said.

While the roundabout comprises about 10 percent of the overall cost, the bulk of the $5.9 million project will address crumbling road conditions. The reconstruction will address drainage issues that through the years have undermined the surface pavement.

“The biggest driving factor is the road’s never been built,” Ernie Martin said. “Drainage is not very well maintained along the stretch, so that’s going to be one of the key factors. We’re going to get the roadway out of the saturated soils and get them up where they can stay dry and the water flows by.”

The next phase for the project is to finalize the design, using suggestions from Monday’s meeting. Martin expects a final design to be complete by October at which point the Right-of-Way process commences. Property owners whose land lies within the scope of the project will be compensated for the loss of their property, a legal process that Martin said can take six to eight months especially if challenges arise from the more than 200 abutters along the road. (Money used to compensate landowners comes from a separate pool of MDOT money, Martin said, not from the allotted construction funding.)

If all goes smoothly and the limits of the construction zone are finalized, Martin expects to advertise the project in July 2013 with construction beginning in September. Construction would be complete on the northern portion of River Road by the end of 2014.

“2014 is my goal for getting it done,” Martin said.

While construction would address the northern 6 miles of River Road, nothing is slated for the lower 3-plus miles from Route 202 to the Westbrook city line. Lower-half reconstruction would be dependent on funding from the Maine Legislature, which holds MDOT’s purse strings. While funding isn’t set, some necessary planning steps have been taken, namely survey work completed earlier this summer.

“The good part about lower half is surveying work is all done and the Right of Way is all set, so as soon as we start design on that, we’re good,” Martin said.

A topcoat known as a maintenance surface treatment was installed on the entire River Road this year and thanks to a mild winter is in good shape, Martin said. He’s hoping for another mild winter since the lower half will have to wait several years before reconstruction can take place.

“Funding is the ultimate question,” Martin said. “Is money there for that lower half? It’s not. It’d be a candidate like the rest of them. But obviously, this has been a pretty important project to a lot of people and it’s on the radar of the department so at least I’m hoping it gets the construction funding because I’d like to get it done.”

Martin Shuer, the outspoken local advocate, is hoping for reconstruction to commence soon on the lower half as well.

“I expressed concern, as did others present, about MDOT getting the Phase 2 River Road project (Route 202 to Westbrook line) into their 2014/2015 capital plan,” Shuer said. “The engineering studies already performed should give them more impetus. As always, the funding issues and administrative/legislative commitments are integral to a successful short-term outcome. That advocacy needs to be reinforced at all levels to ensure that this project moves forward through completion.”