Despite appearing complete, the Interstate 395 connector is still about a year away from opening.
The $84 million construction project — which is on schedule and budget — is expected to wrap up in late July or early August 2025, said Paul Merrill, spokesperson for the Maine Department of Transportation.
“The project is going to look like it’s done for quite some time before traffic gets onto it,” he said. “It looks complete, but we still need to do a lot of paving work. We need to get all the signage out there so it’s going to look done before it’s actually done.”
Once everything is completed, I-395 will run an additional six miles northeast to Route 9, or the Airline, instead of ending at the Brewer-Holden town line. It will bring to an end a controversial debate about the project that has lasted more than two decades.
“This connector will tie those two pieces together and create a straight shot for a lot of people,” Merrill said. “Improve mobility, improve safety and help improve the economics of the area as folks who work in and around Bangor interact with markets to the east, Down East and even Canada.”
The exits from I-395 are still under construction, as well as the bridge under Levenseller Road. Four other bridges that cross the expansion are open, Merrill said.
A mild winter allowed crews to do more work than originally expected, he said.
It’s one of the few projects in Maine that include building new infrastructure instead of repairing already existing roads. The final cost, between the construction costs and buying the land necessary for the expansion, is roughly $106 million, making it one of only a few projects to cross the $100 million mark, Merrill said.
“The big stuff is we’re on schedule, we’re on budget,” Merrill said. “Those are good things.”
