Acorn was selected by the Town of Scarborough, Maine, to provide facilitation services and stakeholder engagement support associated with the Maine Department of Transportation’s (MDOT’s) preliminary design for a resiliency strategy for US Route 1 and Pine Point Road (State Route 9). Acorn participated in monthly coordination meetings with the Town and key MDOT staff starting in June 2023, reviewing project objectives, discussing MDOT design options, and debating how to present the information and alternatives to both regulatory agencies and the general public. Acorn coordinated and facilitated a stakeholder meeting with local, state, and federal organizations and regulatory agencies on August 1, 2023, and prepared minutes and distributed information from that meeting to participants. Acorn then facilitated a MDOT public hearing for the project on November 9, 2023 at Scarborough Town Hall, and coordinated and facilitated a second meeting with regulators on April 30, 2024. Finally, Acorn prepared renderings that combine current photos, existing culvert locations and inverts, and documented the impact on roadways from recent large storm events using MDOT’s proposed design, to represent how the proposed elevated roadway design would respond to similar storm events.
