HAMPDEN, ME — The Maine Department of Transportation (MaineDOT) will be replacing eight bridges and rehabilitating a ninth bridge on a four-mile-long stretch of I-95 in Hampden. These bridges are almost 60 years old and are approaching the end of their useful lives. This project will affect traffic on both the northbound and southbound sides of the interstate between mile markers 176 and 180.

Several of the bridges carry I-95 over Souadabscook Stream. One carries the interstate over Emerson Mills Road. Another carries Cold Brook Road over the interstate.

MaineDOT hopes to maintain all four lanes of interstate traffic during daytime hours. Interstate traffic will be routed onto temporary median diversions, and speeds will be reduced to 55 mph in the bridge work zones. Single lane restrictions will happen at night (between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m.).

The contractor has recently begun night work, but work throughout 2020 will be mostly outside the current roadway with minimal impacts to the traveling public. MainDOT will begin work on the northbound side. Once that work is complete, the department will begin working on the southbound lanes. The nature of the contract on this project allows modifications throughout the length of the work. The estimated date of completion on this project is November 30, 2022, weather permitting.

The contractor on this job is Cianbro Corporation of Pittsfield. The total contract price for the project is $44.8 million.