Warren Avenue in Portland will be closed to traffic for several hours Wednesday and Thursday nights to allow construction crews to repair the northbound bridge that carries Maine Turnpike traffic over the city street.

In addition to the closures, motorists traveling along the Maine Turnpike during the repair period could face intermittent delays lasting up to 15 minutes. Structural steel will be removed from the northbound side of the bridge only on those nights. The same work must be done to the southbound side of the bridge, but that work has not been scheduled.

Erin Courtney, spokeswoman for the Maine Turnpike Authority, said the closures will occur between the hours of 10 p.m. and 5 a.m.

Motorists will be detoured around Warren Avenue on Wednesday and Thursday evenings. They will be moved onto Riverside Street and Forest Avenue with a typical detour being about 2.5 miles.

The bridge work, which will be done by Reed & Reed, Inc. of Richmond, is part of a $17.8 million project to replace the two mainline bridges that were built in 1956. Located at mile 49 on the turnpike, the bridges carry traffic over Warren Avenue, a congested city street that connects Morrills Corner in Portland with Westbrook. The average daily traffic count on Warren Avenue is approximately 17,800 vehicles.

Courtney said that the project will involve the removal of the existing bridges, construction of new higher and wider bridges, and raising the bridge approach area by about 3 feet to achieve a minimum clearance of 16 feet 6 inches.

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“The existing under clearance of the bridges is 14 feet and they have been hit a number of times,” Courtney said in a statement. “Replacing these bridges should significantly lessen the chances they are hit again.”

In addition to increasing the height, the new bridges will be wider and able to accommodate a third lane of traffic. During construction, the turnpike bridges will be widened to allow two lanes of traffic in each direction.

The project is scheduled to be completed in June 2021.

 


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