RUMFORD – Starting Monday, Sept. 18, Spruce Street traffic at Holyoke and Maine avenues will be condensed from two lanes into one at the Bean Brook bridge, a condition expected to last six or seven weeks.

Maine Department of Transportation bridge manager Herb Noyes of Dixfield stated in a Friday news release that the top layer of the bridge deck, or wearing surface, needs to be replaced.

“The existing wearing surface has deteriorated to the point it is no longer protecting the bridge deck from water and winter-road salt, and requires frequent patching,” Noyes said.

To protect the state’s investment in the rest of the bridge, a new wearing surface must be put down.

Noyes said Spruce Street traffic will be restricted to one lane at the bridge site, while workers replace the surface on the remaining half. Once that work is done, traffic will be moved onto it while the other side is completed.

He said that due to relatively light traffic volumes using the bridge, drivers approaching the work area will be directed by signage – not traffic signals – to “stop and proceed when clear.”

“If drivers approach the bridge with the expectation that they’re going to have to stop, come to a full stop far enough back from the bridge for any oncoming traffic to clear, and then proceed through the work area, things should work out fine,” Noyes added.