A road connecting Scarborough and Cape Elizabeth could be completely removed.
Town officials are considering permanently closing a part of the roadway, called Sawyer Road in Cape Elizabeth and Sawyer Street in Scarborough, leaving two dead-end roads in its place.
The road sits on top of a Marsh, and since no one lives on the part of the road that would be removed, Scarborough Sustainability Manager Jami Fitch said removing the road could solve several problems.
“We have this large pool here next to the road,” Fitch said. “That’s not supposed to be there.”
Sawyer Street, off Route 77, connects the towns of Cape Elizabeth and Scarborough, but it splits the Spurwink Marsh in two.
“The road is blocking tidal flow, the culvert is not allowing enough water to pass through,” Fitch said. “So, we’re really affecting the function of the marsh in this area.”
The towns received a $1.6 million grant from the Maine Natural Resource Conservation Program to remove the road and restore the marsh. But the project is about more than just environmental concerns.
“There’s been a lot of flooding,” said Paul Hayes, who lives nearby the marsh. “We saw a car float away in the storm in mid-January.”
Sawyer Street is a low-lying road, and when there’s a storm or an astronomical high tide, it often floods and closes to traffic.
Residents said they often have to take a detour anyway because of flooding, and it only adds a few minutes to their drive. But some residents have concerns about how a permanent closure could impact traffic.
“Shutting that road is probably gonna increase traffic through the town of Cape Elizabeth quite significantly,” said Mark Coleman, who lives nearby Sawyer Street. “I think a lot of people are gonna be disturbed or upset that they’d even consider closing it.”
If the project moves forward, each town would have to spend about $185,000 to build a dead-end on each side of the road. But because of ongoing water damage, Fitch said maintaining the road would cost millions.
“It’s a trade-off that we have to make in the face of rising sea levels,” Fitch said.
The project is still waiting on approval from both town councils, but if the project moves forward, Fitch said the road removal will likely start at the end of 2026.