AUGUSTA — Work is expected to begin this month to replace a bridge that provides one of the main access routes to downtown Augusta and is used frequently by fire trucks and ambulances departing the nearby Fire Department headquarters.

With replacement of the Rines Hill Bridge scheduled to start soon, the section of Water Street it carries is set to close March 20 to southbound traffic, but remain open to one lane of traffic traveling north, toward the city’s downtown area.

The bridge carries Water Street over Maine Central Railroad tracks and downtown parking lots, and is one of the well-traveled ways for motorists to get to downtown Augusta.

It is also frequently traveled by fire trucks and ambulances from the Augusta Fire Department headquarters at Hartford Station, which sits on top of Rines Hill.

Fire Chief David Groder said fire or rescue vehicles responding from the Hartford Station to calls downtown or on Northern Avenue, or crossing the Kennebec River to respond to calls on the east side of Augusta, typically travel across the bridge.

Groder said the Maine Department of Transportation has assured local officials one lane of northbound traffic will be maintained for the majority of the project, allowing fire trucks and ambulances to get through on that route despite the construction.

“Their plan is to always have one northbound lane open, coming into downtown, so anything leaving the station going down over the hill should be open for us,” Groder said Wednesday.

The chief said there could be a few days during the project when one lane cannot be opened. On those days, he said, crews responding from the Hartford Station could go around the project site and still get to their destinations, although it would take a bit more time.

Damian Veilleux, a spokesperson for the state DOT, said the decision to keep a lane of traffic open as much as possible would permit the Fire Department to travel northbound from the station, especially in emergencies.

He added that if there were alternating traffic sharing one southbound lane, traffic could back up through downtown on Water Street, while motorists await their turns to use the single lane.

Construction is expected to begin affecting traffic March 13, with periodic daytime lane reductions.

Beginning March 20, the route is scheduled to be reduced to one lane, carrying only northbound traffic. All southbound traffic is to be detoured around the project, using Winthrop and State streets.

That traffic pattern is expected to continue for much of the project, remaining in place until the spring of 2024.

Michael Hall, executive director of the Augusta Downtown Alliance, said the Maine DOT has held several public forums on the project so the downtown community has been aware of it for some time. He noted the bridge carries the primary gateway into downtown from Western Avenue, and keeping the northbound lane open during construction should keep traffic disruptions to a minimum.

“As with any construction project, there are some feelings of anxiety, but we are confident business will go on as usual,” Hall said. “The fact the northbound lane remains unaffected means traffic will continue to flow from Western Avenue unhindered.

“Our chief concern is to see that this construction is completed in a timely manner, with an absolute minimum amount of disruption to business. Rines Hill Bridge is a small section of our downtown and we are confident that in the end, we will emerge stronger as a community, with a safer and more attractive gateway.”

State DOT officials said the 84-year-old bridge has deteriorated and is at the end of its useful life.

According to state DOT reports on bridges in Augusta, the bridge, built in 1939, was last inspected in November 2022. Its deck condition and substructure condition are rated “poor,” while its superstructure condition is rated “fair.”

An average of 4,500 vehicles per day cross the span, which measures 61 feet long and 42 feet wide, according to DOT data. The steel-and-concrete bridge goes largely unnoticed by many motorists passing over it.

Plans for the new bridge call for steel beams and a concrete superstructure, and steel railings along the roads leading to the bridge.

Veilleux said the bridge is to be built in stages, with traffic using half of the existing bridge while the other half is removed and rebuilt, then switching to the new half of the structure while the other half is built.

The contractor on the $5.2 million project is New England Infrastructure Inc. of Hudson, Massachusetts.

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