After years of work, the Interstate 395 connector is only a few days away from opening.
The $107 million project was expected to wrap up in late July or early August, but will likely be open for travelers by Saturday, the Maine Department of Transportation said last week.
The new I-395 extension runs an additional six miles northeast to Route 9, or the Airline, instead of ending at the Brewer-Holden town line. It will have a posted speed limit of 55 miles per hour, and runs over five bridges, two snowmobile crossings and a number of wildlife and stream crossings.
“This connector will tie those two pieces together and create a straight shot for a lot of people,” Paul Merrill, spokesperson for the Maine Department of Transportation, told the Bangor Daily News in a 2024 interview. “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.”
MaineDOT will hold a ribbon cutting ceremony in Brewer on Friday at 11 a.m., and traffic is expected to be allowed on the tarmac by Saturday.
