A lane of traffic has been closed at the Frost Gully crossing on U.S. Route 1 in Freeport, just north of Kendall Lane, and north of the downtown, as the Maine Department of Transportation began work on a culvert on Monday, Aug. 8.

Traffic has been reduced to one lane at all times, and delays should be expected until mid-October, according to Ted Talbot, a transportation department spokesman. Flaggers arrived at the construction site on Monday, and temporary traffic signals will be installed on Monday, Aug. 15, Talbot said.

CPM Constructors of Freeport is the main contractor for the $579,000 project, Talbot said.

“There will be a slowdown through the work zone,” Talbot said. “We just want people to be aware that we will be out there.”

Talbot said that the department will replace the old, deteriorating culvert along the Frost Gully crossing, and extend the culvert by 46 feet.

“The embankment is suffering, as well,” he said. “There’s a lot of erosion along that embankment.”

Work hours will be from 6 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday through Saturday, but the lane closure will remain in effect at all times for the duration of the job, Talbot said.

Worekers have a “slip culvert” in Frost Gully Brook, which they will install at the site on U.S. Route 1 North in Freeport. Flaggers were out Monday, and one-lack traffic was enforced as the two-month project of installing the culvert, shoring up the embankment and resurfacing the short stretch of road began.

A backhoe operator backfills sand around a culvert in Frost Gully Brook in Freeport on Monday. Work on a stretch of U.S. Route 1 North began Monday, and will last until at least mid-October.