Spurwink Marsh Restoration

Sawyer Street flooding, January 10, 2024 | Photo by Matt Craig

The Towns of Scarborough and Cape Elizabeth received a $1.59M grant from the Maine Natural Resources Conservation Program (MNRCP) to remove Sawyer Street/Road and restore tidal flow to the Spurwink Marsh.

As part of this project, the Town Councils in both Cape Elizabeth and Scarborough needed to complete a State-mandated road discontinuance process. Both towns began the process in the fall of 2025. On October 15, 2025, the Cape Elizabeth Town Council voted not to proceed with the road discontinuance process, effectively ending the project. Without Cape Elizabeth's participation, the Scarborough Town Council also voted against road discontinuance at its meeting on November 5, 2025. 

Work on this project has stopped, and grant funds have been returned to MNRCP.

For more information, please contact Jami Fitch, Sustainability Manager, at jfitch@scarboroughmaine.org.

Town Council Activities

• Wednesday, October 15, 7:00 pm (View recording)
  The Town Council initiated the process to discontinue a portion of Sawyer Street beginning at a point beyond all private access points to Sawyer Street located south of the property line of 26 Sawyer Street and continuing northeast for approximately 1,098.29 feet through the marsh to the boundary with the Town of Cape Elizabeth as more specifically shown on the Plan of Discontinuance of Sawyer Road/Sawyer Street.
  
  The Town Council approved the first reading of the Order of Discontinuance of a Portion of Sawyer Street. 

• Wednesday, November 5, 7:00 pm (View recording)
  Public hearing on discontinuance of Sawyer Street.
  
  The Town Council voted not to move forward with the Spurwink Marsh Restoration and Sawyer Street Removal Project because of Cape Elizabeth's vote against removing the road.  

Background

Sawyer Street (Sawyer Road in Cape Elizabeth) is a town road that crosses the Spurwink Marsh and is shared with Cape Elizabeth. This road frequently floods during astronomical high tides and storm events and is listed as a priority road in the Town's Vulnerability Assessment. 

Scarborough and Cape Elizabeth undertook a study in 2018 to understand what upgrades are needed to maintain the road given anticipated sea level rise. The study found that the Towns would need to invest several million dollars to significantly raise the road and increase the size of the existing road culvert. There are also environmental challenges to raising the road, because much of the Spurwink Marsh is federally protected as part of the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge.

Given the investments that are needed to upgrade other critical infrastructure in both towns, Scarborough and Cape Elizabeth believe removing the portion of Sawyer Street that crosses the marsh is the best path forward from an environmental and financial standpoint.
 

MNRCP Grant

The Maine Natural Resources Conservation Program (MNRCP) awarded a $1,590,000 grant to the Towns of Cape Elizabeth and Scarborough in the Fall of 2023 to remove the road from the marsh in an environmentally sound manner. Each town has pledged a cash match of $185,000 to build turnarounds at the dead ends in Cape Elizabeth and Scarborough as a result of the road removal. Both municipalities voted to accept the grant and signed a Memorandum of Understanding to work jointly to implement the project. 

Project Updates

• The required Town Council action to formally discontinue Sawyer Street was unsuccessful. The project will not move forward, and the grant funds awarded for the project will be returned to the Maine Natural Resources Conservation Program.  
• RFQ for Salt Marsh Enhancement Design and Implementation issued on August 1, 2025. Submissions are due September 11, 2025.
• Retained Flycatcher LLC to complete baseline vegetation surveys in the marsh. The work will take place in late August and early September.
• Retained Sebago Technics to provide engineering services to complete the road removal design, permitting, oversee geotechnical and right-of-way surveys, modeling, and prepare bid documents. 
• Municipal attorneys have been asked to provide guidance on the required process for the disposition of the road right-of-way.
• MNRCP approved the draft project workplan and accepted it as an "interim status report," releasing the first $90,000 of grant funds. 
• Executed the contract between MNRCP, US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), Town of Scarborough, and Town of Cape Elizabeth.
• The Towns of Scarborough and Cape Elizabeth signed a Memorandum of Understanding to jointly implement the project.

Why remove the road?

• Failing infrastructure. Sawyer Street and the culvert are in poor condition. The culvert is deteriorated. A July 2021 Highway Report from the Maine Department of Transportation describes a minor deflection on the southerly side, corrosion along the bolt line, and holes along the top plate. "The roadbed erodes from repeated flooding, and the pavement is in poor condition."

• Infrastructure investment costs. The 2019 Sawyer Road Culvert Tidal Study estimated that replacing the culvert with a climate-resilient concrete box culvert would cost between $2 million and $5.5 million, and replacing the culvert will not address the chronic road flooding. In order to upgrade the road, 7 feet of vertical fill would be required, and a corresponding expansion of the road footprint on the marsh. If road flooding is addressed in an environmentally sensitive manner, the road should be elevated off the marsh – a bridge that would cost millions.

• Priorities. Both communities have experienced significant flooding and road damage. Scarborough has several roads with higher traffic counts that must be improved to be more climate resilient, most prominently Route 1. The decision to remove Sawyer Street is an example of both infrastructure retreat and prioritizing investments in other roads. Removal of the road will relieve both towns of ongoing maintenance costs in a tidal area.

• Restore the marsh. Road removal will directly restore ¾ of an acre of high-value tidal wetland and enhance an additional 62 acres by restoring tidal flows. Spurwink Marsh is part of the Scarborough Marsh Focus area of Statewide Ecological Significance, one of the most important bird habitats in the region.

• Responses to frequently asked questions about the project.

Photo credit - 2, 3, 4, 5: Matt Craig