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MACHIAS, Maine — Deputy Transportation Commissioner Joyce Taylor said Thursday her agency is still open to other options for repairing the failing Machias dike rather than simply rebuilding it as it is now.
“We don’t feel like we’ve closed the door completely,” Taylor said in a telephone interview. “I’ve worked at DOT for 25 years. This is the most complex project I’ve ever worked on.”
This contrasts with what many members of the Upper Machias Bay Master Plan Leadership Committee understood after a Jan. 27 meeting, where they said the Maine Department of Transportation shifted its position from a year earlier and indicated it would support only an “in-kind” replacement that matches the current dike.
This understanding was shared at the Jan. 28 Machias Select Board meeting by committee members Tora Johnson, director of the Sustainable Prosperity Initiative at the Sunrise County Economic Council, and Ben Edwards, vice chair of the Select Board.
The committee spent the past year researching alternatives to an in‑kind replacement, which would include clappers — gated culverts that control water flow.
“If I had heard what I heard from Maine DOT last week a year ago, I never would have supported the formation of this committee, because there would have been nothing to discuss,” Edwards said Friday by telephone.
“It was a very distinct shift in their willingness to support what we decided,” he said of his and others’ understanding of the Department of Transportation’s stated position at the Jan. 27 meeting.
The Upper Machias Bay Master Plan Leadership Committee was formed in January 2025 as a collaboration between the town of Machias and the Sunrise County Economic Council to address key issues, including downtown flooding, replacement of the Machias Dike Bridge and water quality.
Taylor said she only responded to a direct question at the meeting, suggesting that the Department of Transportation would likely not support one specific option meant to let water back into the Middle River for fish passage and wetland restoration, because of concerns about flooding on nearby properties.
“We’re not going to take property or flood property against landowners’ will with transportation dollars,” Taylor said.
She added that the agency is still looking forward to the committee’s recommendations, which are expected at a public meeting later this month.
“We did say, ‘We’ll be thoughtful about the options and we’ll listen to you and you can talk about different options,’” Taylor said.
According to a draft issue report on the dike from last November, the department “outlined a range of options for replacing the structure, including an open bridge span that allows tidewater to pass, open box culverts that allow some tidewater through, or fully gated culverts that prevent all tidewater from entering the Middle River above the dike.”
Edwards said the committee would have likely voted to support an in‑kind replacement as the best option anyway, and that is the option he thinks is best, but he fears the apparent narrowing of options from the state could affect leverage or public support for getting the project done.
“If we end up being challenged by a conservation group or something like that, it would be great to be able to say, ‘The community got together, including the conservation groups that are local, and have decided that for this community, this is the right option,’” he said.
Taylor and Edwards said they agree on the urgency in remedying the dike issue as soon as possible because the dike carries Route 1, utility lines and the Downeast Sunrise Trail across the Middle River. Recent storms have damaged the 150‑year‑old structure.
“This is Route 1. It’s a really critical road for that area. We’ve worked on this more than a decade. The tide gates aren’t working,” Taylor said. “We feel like we need to get to an answer — something we can build and get out and get that bridge replaced.”
The committee is expected to present formal recommendations on how to handle issues, including the dike, downtown flooding and water quality, at a public meeting scheduled for Feb. 23.
