PORTLAND - The Maine Department of Transportation will be repairing bridge joints on the southbound side of I-295 in Portland. The work will begin on Monday, April 20th and will involve extended lane and ramp closures on the interstate. We plan to finish this work by Thursday, May 21st. The project area begins at Tukey's Bridge and extends south to Fore River. This work will be done by crews from MaineDOT's Maintenance and Operations Bureau and CPM Constructors in Freeport.
This bridge work is needed to maintain safety and mobility on one of the most-traveled corridors in Maine. We had originally planned to restrict this work to overnight hours to minimize traffic impacts. In recent weeks, we have seen a 60-percent drop in traffic volume on I-295 in Portland, so we are allowing crews to work during daytime hours as well. This may allow us to complete this work faster and more cost-effectively. This change also improves safety for our workers because it allows us to use concrete barriers for lane closures instead of only barrels.
This work represents the first of a three-year effort to repair and pave I-295 through Portland. Under the current plan, we will pave the southbound lanes and repair the northbound bridge joints in 2021. The final stage will be to pave the northbound lanes in 2022.