BATH
The viaduct that bisects the city is 55 years old, five years older than its expected useful life. 

Despite a resurfacing and some repairs made to the structure in 2007, time and weather have taken their toll.

Nate Benoit of Maine’s Department of Transportation told a meeting of officials and residents Wednesday it’s time to replace or renovate the structure.

The viaduct is split into 20 distinct spans. Of those, 12 are concrete, eight are steel. All are deteriorating, but some sections are worse than others, Benoit said.

Because there are gaps between the spans, water has trickled down into the gaps.  When the water freezes, it expands, cracking the concrete and weakening the structure.

When the structure was resurfaced in 2007, the transportation department discovered that water and ice had caused structural damage to the piers, or the upright sections of the substructure, as well as significant problems to the layer just below the road surface. Some of the concrete was in danger of falling from the underside of the structure to Leeman Highway below.

So the Department of Transportation added steel reinforcement to protect the surface street from crumbling concrete and resurfaced the road as a temporary fix.

The viaduct was added to a growing list of bridges in Maine badly in need of repair — and rates a 4 on a scale of 1 to 9, which is “poor” although still safe to drive on, Benoit said.

Benoit said the budget for the project is $5 million but funding is not yet in place, primarily because bonds approved by voters have not yet gone on the market. By the time the project goes forward, the cost may be greater.

Benoit said that a normal repair or replacement of this type could take two years. He said he could envision a nine-month accelerated project, possibly beginning in the fall of 2014 or 2015, to include night work he said would not disturb the neighborhood too much.

Benoit said the next public meeting on the project is likely to be held in the fall.

For more, see today’s print edition of The Times Record.

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