AUGUSTA (AP) – Highway officials are considering shutting down the southbound lanes of a 22-mile section of Interstate 295 this summer to rebuild the highway from Gardiner to Topsham.

Closing the road and rerouting traffic onto the Maine Turnpike or Route 201 is the safer option for travelers and construction workers, said Joyce Taylor of the Maine Department of Transportation. It can also save time and money.

“Across the country, people are doing this,” Taylor said. “Using the get-in-and-get-out philosophy saves up to 75 percent of the time we normally estimate.”

The I-295 project would take from mid-June until the end of August if the southbound lanes are shut down altogether. If the work is done piecemeal a lane at a time, it could take two or three construction seasons, from April into October each year.

The project, which will cost an estimated $32 million, involves breaking up the existing concrete into rubble and topping it with asphalt. Money is not available for both sides of the highway.

DOT representatives on Monday visited eight communities that would be affected to let local officials know that the preferred option is to close the highway lanes.

In Richmond, Town Manager Tom Fortier said closing down the highway for construction could give the town an economic boost by bringing diverted travelers into town.

But a little farther south, Bowdoinham Town Manager Kathy Durgin-Leighton was concerned that some motorists might choose to travel Route 24 rather than Route 201 from Gardiner to Topsham.

“Route 24 right now is in horrible shape,” she said. “It’s windy, narrow and there’s no paved shoulder.”

Community leaders for the most part are open to the idea and pleased that the DOT is letting them know what’s being considered, Taylor said.

“After the shock of the proposal, they say, ‘You know, if you can get the trucks over to the turnpike, we can understand that this might work.’ Everyone is open-minded and listening,” she said.

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