AUGUSTA - MaineDOT Chief Engineer Joyce Taylor is the recipient of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials' 2019 President's Special Award of Merit. AASHTO presents this award to someone "who has made outstanding and exemplary contributions to the work of the Association."
GARDINER - The Maine Department of Transportation will be replacing the Maine Avenue Bridge, which carries Route 24 over the Cobbosseecontee Stream in Gardiner. This work will require a full closure of the bridge beginning Friday, October 18th at 12:01 a.m. The new bridge is scheduled to reopen at midnight on Friday, November 1st at 11:59 p.m. Crews will be working around the clock during more than half of the 15-day-long construction window. Detour routes will be clearly marked during the full closure. There will be minimal impacts to parking.
LEBANON - The Maine Department of Transportation is working on a project that will require the temporarily closure of Prospect Hill Road in Lebanon later this week as crews continue their work on the railroad crossing there. The affected area is immediately east of the border with New Hampshire. Prospect Hill Road turns into Garage Way when it crosses into Milton, NH. The full road closure will happen for approximately three hours either on Friday, October 18th or Saturday, October 19th depending on the progress of other work.
MADAWASKA - The Maine Department of Transportation will be using a helicopter to help conduct geotechnical explorations in the St. John River between Madawaska and Edumundston, New Brunswick next week. The purpose of the geotechnical exploration work is to determine the location and quality of bedrock in the river for the future placement of bridge abutments and in-water piers for the new Madawaska-Edmundston International Bridge.
KITTERY - As work on the "Maine Ahead" project continues, drivers will begin encountering new traffic patterns near the Piscataqua River Bridge.
Beginning at 9:00 p.m. tonight (October 24th), crews will be closing the Exit 1 off-ramp on the northbound side of I-95. This ramp along with the southbound exit ramp (which has already been closed for several weeks) will remain closed until the bridge project is substantially complete. Our anticipated date for that substantial completion is October 2021.
PORTLAND AND SOUTH PORTLAND - The Maine Department of Transportation is conducting overnight paving work on four bridges on I-295 in Portland and South Portland. This work is being done to preserve the bridge surfaces until we can do more thorough work in future years. The four bridges that we are repairing are Tukey's Bridge Northbound and Southbound, Fore River Bridge Northbound, Fore River Bridge Southbound, and the Fore River Parkway Bridge Northbound. Crews will be milling and repaving the surface of Tukey's Bridge. The other three bridges will be overlaid with new asphalt.
WASHINGTON COUNTY - The Maine Department of Transportation is upgrading two Mattawamkeag Railroad Crossings in Washington County. One is on Route 1 (Houlton Road) in Eaton just south of Danforth. The other is on Route 6 (Old Codyville Road) in Lambert Lake. Our work areas extend approximately 200 feet on either side of each railroad crossing. One-way temporary gravel detours have been installed around the rail crossing work zones. This work started on Monday, October 28th and is scheduled to continue through November 6th. The contractors are NBM Railways and Northeast Paving.
FREEPORT - The Maine Department of Transportation will be working with Maine Water on a project that will impact traffic on both sides of I-295 in Freeport this week. We are working to install a water main under the interstate between mile markers 21 and 22. Work outside the paved areas will begin at 4:00 p.m. on Monday, October 28th. Beginning at 7:00 p.m., we will be closing the northbound travel lane and southbound passing lane to monitor the progress of the directional boring. We plan to reopen all travel lanes before Tuesday morning's commute.
WISCASSET - The Maine Department of Transportation will be testing new traffic signals at two intersections in downtown Wiscasset on Wednesday, October 30th. The testing will begin at 9:00 a.m. and continue until noon. The intersections in question are where Water Street intersects with Route 1 and where Water Street intersects with Middle Street. People passing through these intersections should proceed with caution. Message boards will alert motorists about this test, and law enforcement officials will be on site during the testing period.
BRUNSWICK - The Maine Department of Transportation is conducting paving work on Route 1 in Brunswick. The work area runs from the Cooks Corner interchange to the Brunswick-Topsham Bypass interchange. We'll be paving and striping both the travel and passing lanes on both the northbound and southbound sides. Work on the northbound side will be happening between 7:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. Work on the southbound side will be happening between 7:00 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. Drivers should expect lane restrictions.