SOUTH PORTLAND - The Maine Department of Transportation will be performing bridge maintenance work on the southbound side of I-295 in Portland. This project involves the bridges that carry the interstate over Westbrook Street (at Exit 3) and Route 703 (Exit 1). The first phase of work at Exit 3 is scheduled to begin on September 14th. Two lanes of traffic will be maintained during this phase. The rest of the work at Exit 3 and all the work at Exit 1 will not begin until after the Columbus Day weekend. During this second phase, traffic will be reduced to one lane.

SOUTH PORTLAND - The Maine Department of Transportation will be doing paving work and making safety improvements along Maine Mall Road in South Portland. The project area affects the intersection that includes the entrances to Best Buy and the DoubleTree Hotel and extends 500 feet down Maine Mall Road in either direction. Work is scheduled to begin on September 15th and be finished by September 25th. Drivers should expect lane closures on Maine Mall Road, but crews will be maintaining two-way traffic.

OLD TOWN - The Maine Department of Transportation will be replacing the bridge deck on the Gilman Falls Avenue Bridge in Old Town. The bridge carries Route 43 over I-95. Crews will begin widening ramps on Monday, September 21st. The ramps will remain open during this widening. That phase of the project should be done by early October, and the project will shut down for the winter. The contractor will resume work in late February or early March. Bridge demolition work will begin in March. Drivers should expect an alternating, single-lane traffic pattern during this phase of the project.

9-22 UPDATE:

Due to expected rain, the contractor has pushed back striping operations by one day. Northbound closures are now planned between 11:00 p.m. on Wednesday, September 23rd and 5:00 a.m. on Thursday, September 24th. Southbound closures are now planned between 11:00 p.m. on Thursday, September 24th and 5:00 a.m. on Friday, September 25th.

ORIGINAL PRESS RELEASE:

TURNER - The Maine Department of Transportation will be installing count sensors on Route 4 (Auburn Road) south of the intersection with Harlow Hill Road in Turner this week. These sensors allow MaineDOT to accurately classify and count the number of vehicles using this road throughout the year. We will be closing the southbound side of the road at 8:00 a.m. on September 29th. Installation takes approximately ten hours. We will be closing the northbound lane at 8:00 a.m. on September 30th. All work should be finished by October 1st.

DRESDEN - The Maine Department of Transportation will be replacing the concrete wearing surface on Veterans Memorial Bridge in Dresden. This bridge carries Route 128 over the Eastern River. Work is scheduled to begin on October 5th and be finished by November 13th. Traffic will be detoured off Route 128 to Indian Road, down Route 127 to Route 194, and back to Route 128. The contractor on this project is Wyman & Simpson, Inc. out of Richmond. The contract amount is $194,000.

DEXTER - The Maine Department of Transportation will be installing traffic count sensors along Route 7 (Corrina Road) north of Route 94 (Garland Road) in Dexter next week. These sensors allow MaineDOT to accurately count the number of vehicles using this highway throughout the year. Installation is scheduled for Tuesday, October 6th. We will close the southbound lane at 8:00 a.m. Work on that side should take about five hours. Work will then move to the northbound side and require the closure of that lane. Like all outdoor work, this installation is weather-dependent.

UPDATE: Because of this week's weather, the traffic shift is happening today - Thursday, October 15th.

HAMPDEN - The Maine Department of Transportation will be closing Emerson Mill Road to traffic at the I-95 bridges tonight as part of the ongoing construction work on the Hampden Bridge Bundle Project. The road will close at 7:00 p.m. and reopen at 5:00 a.m. tomorrow. We are also planning to move I-95 northbound traffic to our temporary bridge at mile marker 176 on Tuesday, October 13th.

GARDINER - The Maine Department of Transportation will begin demolition of the Bridge Street Bridge on October 22nd. The Bridge Street Bridge was built in 1917. It carries Route 201 over the Cobbossecontee Stream in downtown Gardiner. Crews have already begun construction on the new bridge. We will be sliding the more-than-700-ton structure into place over the course of several days. The bridge slide is scheduled for the first week in November. Once the new bridge is in place, crews will work on connecting utilities and paving before the new bridge can open to traffic.