AUBURN — Highway officials are recommending drivers avoid Route 136 entirely and are detouring all traffic between Lewiston-Auburn and Durham onto Route 196, which becomes Lisbon Street.
The new route replaces a detour around a portion of Route 136 that collapsed into the Androscoggin River on Sept. 2.
“This is now the posted, official route,” said Mark Latti, spokesman for the Maine Department of Transportation. “We know that there are other options available and that people will be looking for the route that best fits their need. But this is the route we will be posting.”
Drivers who travel along Route 136 between Durham and Auburn will be detoured onto Route 196 — Lisbon Street in Lewiston — through Lisbon Falls. In Lisbon, they’ll be directed onto Route 9 and back onto Route 136. In Lewiston, they’ll be directed back onto Route 136 via Cedar Street.
The road collapsed when crews were trying to reinforce a portion of the road near the Durham-Auburn border by driving vertical metal sheets into the ground to help halt river erosion.
The state’s first detour sent traffic up Jordan School Road, onto Pownal Road and back to Route 136 via Stackpole Road. The detour added about 10 miles to the trip.
“We’ve actually determined that using Route 196 is shorter,” Latti said. “It’s actually about 2 miles shorter and roughly the same travel time.”
Latti said Route 196 is wider and designed to handle heavier traffic loads, unlike the narrow and potholed Jordan School Road.
“We’ve heard concerns from residents and officials about wear-and-tear on that road,” he said.
The new detour could be in place for some time. Latti said engineers are still looking for the best way to repair the road. He didn’t want to speculate on how long the road could be closed. Nine months to a year is not out of the question, he said.
Crews will be at the collapse site Friday and early next week, preparing to remove the crane and other equipment stranded when the road collapsed, Latti said.
They are scheduled to begin removing trees along the roadside and should begin building a dirt ramp from the river to the road early next week. When it’s complete, they hope to haul the crane up the ramp.
View New Riverside Drive detour in a larger map
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