HAMPDEN - As part of the ongoing work on the Hampden Bridge Bundle Project, the Maine Department of Transportation will be shifting southbound interstate traffic back to the existing I-95 highway at the Emerson Mill Road Bridge in Hampden on the night of Wednesday, August 17th. Inclement weather may push this traffic shift to the night of Thursday, August 18th. This is the final traffic shift of the Hampden Bridge Bundle project.
The Hampden Bridge Bundle Project involves rebuilding eight bridges and rehabilitating a ninth bridge along a four-mile stretch of I-95 in Hampden. The eight bridge replacements happened on both the northbound and southbound sides of the interstate at four sites between Exits 174 and 180. Three of these bridge pairs cross the Souadabscook Stream and one pair crosses Emerson Mill Road and the Central Maine & Quebec Railway. The one bridge rehabilitation involved with this project occurred at the Exit 180 off-ramp on Cold Brook Road over I-95.
The four bridge replacements on the northbound side I-95 were substantially completed last year, and northbound traffic has been using the four new interstate bridges since then. With this latest traffic shift, all four southbound bridges will be open.
The contractor on the Hampden Bridge Bundle Project is Cianbro Corporation. The contract amount is $44.8 million. The estimated completion date of the project is November 30th.