PORTLAND - The Maine Department of Transportation is planning more daytime construction work on I-295 in Portland. We are doing this because traffic volumes have remained low during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In late March, traffic volume on I-295 in Portland was down about 60 percent from what it normally is at that time of year. On April 20th, we started repairing bridge joints on the southbound side of the interstate between Tukey's Bridge and Fore River. This project has involved extended lane and ramp closures. The work is being done by both crews from MaineDOT's Maintenance and Operations Bureau as well as crews from CPM Constructors in Freeport. To date, this project has been a successful one. We are making important safety improvements to I-295 and doing so in the daytime, when conditions are safer and construction costs are lower.
We have worked with CPM to develop a plan to complete a portion of similar work on the northbound side of I-295. This plan will allow us to complete bridge joint modifications on Tukey's Bridge as well as on the bridges at Franklin Street, Preble Street, and Forest Avenue. We are planning to start this work on Monday, May 11th. We will allow CPM to maintain one lane of traffic on the northbound side of the interstate until Thursday, May 21st, just before the Memorial Day weekend. After Memorial Day, the contractor will maintain two lanes of through traffic. We expect to complete this bridge joint work by Friday, June 5th. Paving work will be completed at night after June 5th.
This opportunity to allow daytime work will improve worker safety, minimize impact on the traveling public, save taxpayer dollars, and potentially minimize the amount of night work we will have to do after traffic volumes increase.