AUGUSTA – Maine’s capital city was bracing today for what some people fear will be gridlock resulting from the closure of one of three bridges spanning the Kennebec River.
The Memorial Bridge closure has been advertised for months. The city’s school buses began using an alternative traffic route in January.
Before the closing took effect Sunday, state Department of Transportation officials stepped up their efforts to make more motorists aware of the closure that’s scheduled to last for three months.
With the Route 3 and Father Curran bridges, the Memorial provides access to the east side of the Kennebec. It’s been a major link for both commuter and truck traffic heading to and from coastal towns. The bridge has also been widely used by state employees who work at offices in the old Augusta Mental Health Institute campus and others who staff nearby facilities.
The bridge offers the quickest access from some points in the city to a hospital and to Cony High School.
The closure could result in snarling traffic on both U.S. routes 201 and 202, which pour into a rotary style traffic circle just before the bridge. State routes 100 and 17 also weave through the rotary, which isn’t far from the State House.
DOT officials began urging people more than a month ago to start using Augusta’s third bridge, the Randolph Gardiner crossing, so they’d get used to the alternative route. They want the city’s second bridge, the Father Curran Bridge, reserved for use by people heading into and out of the downtown only.
Officials also have been encouraging people to consider carpooling, to use park-and-ride lots and to modify their commuting hours when possible.
The Memorial Bridge will be closed for three months to allow construction crews to re-deck the span, which was built in 1949. The project includes: removing the original concrete roadway and sidewalks, installing and repairing bridge elements, replacing the road and sidewalk surfaces and installing new traffic barriers and pedestrian railings.
The full project is expected to take 14 months, but the bridge closure is for only three months in order to ease anticipated congestion and to minimize inconvenience.
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