Six aging bridges along Interstate-395 that connect Bangor and Brewer will be repaired or replaced in the coming years.
The Maine Department of Transportation was awarded $63 million through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bridge Investment Program to complete work on the six bridges along I-395 in Bangor and Brewer.
The money will be used to work on six deteriorating bridges, three of which carry I-395 over railroad tracks, a street and a river, and three are overpasses under which I-395 runs.
The bridges include the Veterans Remembrance Bridge that leads I-395 over the Penobscot River, a bridge that carries I-395 over Main Street in Bangor, and another that spans railroad tracks in Brewer. Other bridges carry roads such as Parkway South, Green Point Road and Robertson Boulevard over the highway in Brewer.
The bridges are sustaining damage from alkali silica reaction, which happens when the alkali and silica in cement react in a moist environment, creating a gel-like substance that expands and swells as it absorbs water. The reaction causes concrete to crack and degrade.
“This funding will make our roadways safer and more resilient by addressing bridges that are crucial to Maine’s infrastructure,” U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, wrote in a statement, Monday. “Upgrading these routes will ensure that vital travel corridors remain accessible for residents, businesses, and commercial transport alike.”
The funding was awarded in tandem with another $69.7 million to the Maine DOT to replace six outdated overpasses on I-95 near Augusta that don’t provide enough vertical clearance for interstate traffic, according to Bruce Van Note, Maine DOT commissioner.
Construction on these projects are expected to begin in May 2026 and conclude in March 2031.
The combined $133 million was awarded through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bridge Investment Program, according to Collins’ office. With these two awards, Maine is receiving more than 20 percent of the nearly $635 million being awarded nationwide through the program this round of funding.
