Katahdin Woods & Waters highway signs going up after long wait

COurtesy / National Park Service This sign marks the entrance to the Katahdin monument, but highway signs directing visitors to the protected land have been lacking since 2016. Now nearly two dozen of them will be installed.

Write a Comment

By Staff

Highway signs that will help lead visitors to Katahdin Woods & Waters National Monument are being installed this month after a several-year delay.

The signs will be installed along the Interstate 95 and Route 11 corridors between Medway and Island Falls. Installation began last week, according to a news release by the National Park Service. The entrance to the park is on Swift Brook Road, off Route 11 (Grindstone Road) in Stacyville, between Patten nd Millinocket.

A total of 22 signs will be installed in or near Medway, Stacyville, Sherman, Patten and Island Falls. Six of the signs will be on the I-95 corridor with the remainder along the Route 11 corridor in the Katahdin area.

The sign placement is the culmination of a three-year effort to get informational signs for the monument approved, constructed and installed, and included the coordination between the park service, the Maine Department of Transportation and private sector contracts, the release said. The park service issues RFPs for the signs in June and awarded the contract for installation.

The installation of all 22 signs is expected to be completed by the end of November, and will be ready for the 2020 winter season, the park service said.

The 87,500-acre area east of Baxter State Park was named a national monument in 2016, but then-Gov. Paul LePage opposed installing signs. He relented in April 2018 after U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said the monument would keep its status after a federal review.