News Release for September 29, 2008
For More Information:
Mark Latti, MaineDOT Public Information Officer - 207-624-3030
Tim Cusick, Highway Maintenance Superintendent - 207-885-7000

Route 136 near Auburn/Durham town line reopens with temporary signal lights

MaineDOT crews have installed temporary signal lights on a section of Route 136 in Auburn and have reopened the roadway. The temporary signal lights allow a single lane of traffic to travel safely on the recently built temporary travel lane and bypass the damaged section of road.

“This is a temporary solution that allows us to reopen Route 136,” said John Cannell, MaineDOT Region Manager. “Once the river bank stabilizes, we will begin to explore more permanent solutions to repairing Route 136.” On September 24, MaineDOT was notified that a section of the riverbank between Route 136 and the Androscoggin River had collapsed into the river. In a span of two days, MaineDOT crews built a temporary travel lane alongside the stable travel lane on this section of Route 136 and closed the damaged portion. Rains this past weekend forced the closure of the road again as more of the riverbank collapsed. After a review of the site by MaineDOT geotechnical engineers and regional engineers, a decision was made to reopen the route to traffic regulated by signal lights.

Route 136 connects Auburn and the Freeport/I-295 area and approximately 4,000 vehicles travel this road each day.The signal lights are approximately 500 feet north of the Durham town line in Auburn.

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