SOUTHWEST HARBOR, Maine — Businesses on Seawall Road in Southwest Harbor say they're seeing a dramatic decrease in customers this year, which they attribute to a portion of the road remaining closed after it was shut down in March due to storm damage.
Travelers now must take a lengthy detour through Tremont to get to certain areas.
The Maine Department of Transportation, which owns the road, ran a public meeting June 27 to propose possibilities for the road and for residents to express their concerns.
“There’s nobody. It’s almost desolate coming out here,” Don Burdick, who was visiting Seawall Road, said.
Businesses along the road say they're taking a hit, as they believe many drivers see “road closed” signs and turn the other way.
“All the businesses on the road are doing half-normal, and we're just not getting the traffic because of the road,” Dawn Raymond, owner of Seawall Camping Supplies, said.
Raymond has owned the camping supply store for 26 years. Her business offers goods and showers for campers staying at the Seawall Campground half a mile down the road.
“This place is a fixture. I mean, I have a pile of guest books from people over the years who have written how much they love this place, and their kids come, their grandkids come,” Raymond said.
But now because of the road closure, campers either need to walk to her store or need to take a 20-minute detour if they're driving.
With significantly fewer sales because of this, Raymond is pinching pennies this year and working to keep her shop in business.
“It's gonna be hard, I mean, hard to come up with property taxes,” Raymond said.
Looking at the plans for the road, MaineDOT is weighing two options: restoring the existing roadway, or completely abandoning the damaged part of the road.
Restoring the roadway would cost around $1 million, according to transportation officials.
“We want to make sure that we're doing something that is acceptable by everyone involved, that is financially prudent,” Paul Merrill, director of communications of MaineDOT, said.
Southwest Harbor Town Manager Marilyn Lowell said if MaineDOT does decide to rebuild the road, it likely wouldn’t get done until next year.
“That would mean the road would stay closed all summer, and that would just be detrimental to all the businesses there,” Lowell explained.
Most people in town support a different solution, Lowell said, a temporary fix so the road can be open this summer during the town’s busiest season.
This, she said, would help Southwest Harbor and the neighboring community of Tremont.
“It would benefit all the way around both towns and all the emergency vehicles, fire trucks, [and] the police department,” Lowell added.
As for Raymond, she said the future of her business could depend on it.
“I'm just trying to hang in there and hope the DOT fixes the road. We all need it, this whole community,” she said.
MaineDOT will continue evaluating the future of Seawall Road in the coming weeks.