DURHAM – With the road in danger of collapsing into the Androscoggin River, the state again is being forced to undertake major repairs to a portion of Route 136 in Durham.

The Maine Department of Transportation has already closed one lane of the road for about a 1/3-mile stretch where the damage is heaviest. A close inspection of the road by the temporary traffic lights at the intersection with Snow Road shows large cracks in the road’s surface caused by the deterioration of the embankment sloping down to the river.

This is not the first time the river has threatened a section of the road in Durham. In June 2010, a section about 11?2 miles south of the current project collapsed, forcing the road to be closed for some time while it was was redesigned and repaired.

Dennis Lovely, the Maine Department of Transportation project manager in charge of the reconstruction, said that the damage this time is pretty severe.

“(The cracks are) big enough to put your hand into them,” he said. “Who knows when it could go?”

Lovely said that the state hopes to begin work in early September. Plans call for the road to be moved away from the river and to stabilize the slope with rocks to help prevent future erosion, a repair similar to the ones made to another section two years ago. He said the problem comes from the fact that the embankment can’t hold the weight of the road, causing it to fail.

“We’re going to take some of the weight off of it,” he said, adding that the previously repaired section was “working perfectly,” and he expects a similar success with this work.

While state officials have said they are going to try and keep the road open, if the damage gets worse, or the damaged portion of the road collapses, the road will have to be closed while the repairs are going on, and traffic detoured around the site.

It’s the possibility of a closure that worries Donna Church, the owner of the Durham Get & Go, located on Route 136 just south of the area in question.

“I’m hoping they don’t close it down altogether,” she said.

Two years ago, when the road was closed, Church said, her business suffered.

“It was horrible,” she said, saying business fell by “well over 50 percent,” forcing her to take out loans to pay suppliers, especially her fuel supplier.

“You have to come up with $30,000-$35,000 every week.”

Church said the road “opened up just about in time,” allowing her to avoid a serious problem, but she was still behind financially, as she had no reserves.

“We just got back on our feet,” she said. “And I just got the money so we can pay for every load again.”

Fortunately for Church, the state is hoping to avoid closing the road. Lovely said the plan is to keep the road open as it is now.

“We’re going to try and maintain the alternate one-way traffic,” he said. “It (the road) seems to be holding up (to allow that).”

Church said she would be happy with that solution.

“That’s going to work,” she said. “People don’t like it, but it’s OK. They’ll just have to wait a few more minutes to get through.”

With a gaping crack in the road visible in the foreground, a large truck rumbles down Route 136 in Durham last week. (Staff photo by Mike Higgins)