KITTERY - The Maine Department of Transportation and its contracting partners will be closing the left travel lanes on both sides of the Piscataqua River (I-95) Bridge on Sunday, February 28th. Crews will close the left lane on the northbound side at 7:00 p.m. and the left lane on the southbound side at 10:00 p.m. These closures are happening to accommodate work on bridge joints. We expect both left travel lanes will remain closed until the bridge joint work is finished in May.
Additionally, crews will be closing the middle lanes on both the northbound and southbound sides nightly between Sunday, February 28th and Friday, March 5th.
Traffic volumes on the bridge remain down between 20 and 25 percent compared to pre-pandemic levels. That drop in traffic has created safer working conditions for our crews and contractors. Decreased traffic levels have also helped our productivity. We will no longer need to close the northbound Exit 7 on-ramp as originally planned.
We want to remind drivers to pay attention and drive carefully in construction work zones. Lanes are narrower, and our crews are working close to traffic. We continue to appreciate the patience and understanding of the members of the traveling public as we work on these important safety improvements. For the latest information, visit www.buildingabettergateway.com, and follow @MaineAheadNews on Facebook and Twitter.
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The "Maine Ahead: Building a Better Gateway" project is a collaboration involving the Maine Department of Transportation, the Maine Turnpike Authority, and the New Hampshire Department of Transportation. The goal of the project is to revitalize and rehabilitate the travel corridor that welcomes millions of commuters, travelers, and freight drivers to Maine every year. The initiative focuses on two major construction projects on the I-95 corridor: the Piscataqua River Bridge and the York Toll Plaza. The toll plaza work involves making safety improvements and creating the ability to allow highway-speed tolling. The bridge work will extend the life of the bridge, add needed safety improvements, and prepare the structure for potential breakdown-lane travel during peak travel periods.
In 2018, 37 million tourists visited Maine - a 33-percent increase from 2012 tourism numbers. During normal times, 78,000 vehicles cross the Piscataqua River Bridge every day, and in the summer, that daily traffic number can climb to 130,000 vehicles. More than 15 million transactions occur at the York Toll Plaza each year. In 2019, on Labor Day weekend alone, nearly 250,000 transactions occurred at the York Toll Plaza, with 187,000 being captured electronically.