WATERVILLE -- Mayflower Hill Drive is not just the front door to Colby College, it is a thoroughfare that connects the city to the campus and the campus to the city.

That was the sentiment Wednesday night during a public hearing on turning the roadway, which bisects the Colby campus, over to the college.

The big question among those in attendance was whether Colby would close off the road once it takes ownership. The agreement states that Mayflower Hill Drive would remain open at both ends to public and private access for seven years, after which time a one-year notice of closure would be required.

"They won't say they're going to close it," Ken Green of Lincoln Street said. "But they don't say they're going to leave it open, either. We should be able to use it."

Colby College President William "Bro" Adams assured Green and other residents that the college is not going to invest millions of dollars on a road it intends to close in seven years. He said with design control and legal control over the road, the college has to protect itself and keep that provision in the agreement.

"It's not the way we can afford to operate as an institution," Adams said. "We are not protected or limited in our liability. The liability changes only pursuant to some kind of event that might occur, theoretically, hypothetically.

"I can't imagine a scenario in which that access as a through route would not extend indefinitely. The reality of there not being through access is extremely unlikely."

The project calls for Colby to invest $5 million to rebuild a half-mile-long stretch of Mayflower Hill Drive from Mt. Merici Avenue to the top of the North Street Hill.

In exchange, a three-way pact with the state and the city of Waterville, other connector streets within the city would be improved, making roads passable and safer to use.

City Manager Michael Roy said the next step in the process will come at the April 1 City Council meeting, when an ordinance to discontinue the road as a city street will get the first of three readings.

To transfer ownership, the city council and the Maine Department of Transportation must approve the deal.

"If this goes forward with improvements that are necessary to slow down traffic, make it safe to the students and the community to use its facilities, that would mean more and more traffic on alternative routes in Waterville," Maine DOT Commissioner David Cole told a gathering of about 30 people. "Those other roads in Waterville that are in need of repair would be used and we recognize that."

The road would be owned by the college, which would pay for all of the plowing and seasonal maintenance.

In return, the Maine DOT would provide an estimated $300,000 in paving costs for Pleasant Street. Work would begin on that street in just a few weeks.

Also in the agreement, the city would design and build an improvement project for Lincoln Street. In that project, Colby College would provide up to $250,000, the state would put up $400,000 and the city would pay for any costs over $650,000.

On Grove Street, the city would provide an estimated $150,000 for overlay paving costs. That project would be scheduled for this coming summer under the plan.

Also in the plan, would be work to North Street Hill, to be completed by this summer.

Cole, Adams, along with Roy and Waterville Mayor Paul LePage all agreed the sharing of the work will get the jobs done without any one party shouldering all of the payments.

Besides, Cole said, the state is broke and has had to delay many of its so-called state aid road jobs. Many Waterville streets technically are state aid roads, meaning the state builds the road and the city maintains it.

Colby owns the land on which Mayflower Hill Drive passes through the campus. The city has a permanent easement to cross over the land with a road.

When the road was created, Colby gave permission for it to be a public road, but never transferred ownership of the road. The city is being asked to release the public easement over that stretch.

Problems with the campus road and an increasing number of pedestrians crossing the road to get to new buildings on the other side promoted the college to move on the plan.

Doug Harlow -- 861-9244

dharlow@centralmaine.com