After appearing on Maine Department of Transportation’s annual Three-Year Plan list for the past few years, work on the Great Falls Bridge connecting Windham and Gorham will be starting in a few weeks.
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| Crews will start work on the Great Falls Bridge connecting Windham and Gorham on Aug. 18. The project involves 350 feet of approach work, replacing guardrail transitions, flare terminals and expansion joint modification. A light pole will also be removed. PHOTO BY ED PIERCE |
MDOT Commissioner Bruce A. Van Note says that the preliminary scope of work for this bridge project consists of replacing the wearing surfaces on both Great Falls Bridges. The east and west bridges span the Presumpscot River between North Gorham and Dundee Ponds.
Van Note says that replacing the wearing surfaces will preserve the longevity of the bridges’ existing decks and superstructure.
Bridge wearing surface replacement involves 350 feet of approach work, guardrail transitions and flare terminals, and expansion joint modification. Workers will also install concrete coring connect to bridge beams and remove a light pole that conflicts with a new guardrail.
The reason MDOT cites for the project is to improve the condition of the existing structure while preserving the existing deck and superstructure longevity of the bridges. The project intends to minimize impacts to the traveling public and minimize impacts to adjacent properties and utilities during the project and implement a cost-effective solution to fixing the bridge’s wearing problem.
An MDOT study reveals that the average daily traffic crossing the Great Falls Bridges between Windham and Gorham is 1,910 vehicles per day with about 8 percent of that traffic consisting of heavy trucks.
Maintenance of traffic during construction will be achieved either by using a closure and detour or by using staged construction. The closure and detour alternatives would require all traffic to detour around the site on by using an alternate route.
Van Note said that the staged construction alternative would have one-half of the bridge under construction at a time, while a single lane of alternating one-way traffic would use the other half of the bridge. But it is possible that North Gorham Road and Windham Center Road at the project site may be closed to all traffic for a maximum of 45 consecutive days.
This project shall be performed in accordance with erosion control measures conforming to the latest version of State of Maine Department of Transportation Standard Specifications for Highways and Bridges and the Department of Transportation’s Best Management Practices for Erosion and Sediment Control.
The Great Falls Bridges are located on Windham Center Road over the Presumpscot River and connect Windham to North Gorham.
Both bridges were constructed in 1970 and following recent MDOT inspections, they both show signs of cracking and rutting on deck and surfaces.
The bridge site is located near the Great Falls Dam, which was one of the first sources of hydroelectric power in the Lakes region of Maine. Use of hydroelectric power was implemented by early settler Zebulon Trickey, who constructed bridges and mills on both sides of the Presumpscot River in Great Falls.
When a fire swept through the Great Falls area in 1872, it destroyed the mills and a bridge built by Trickey, and settlement of the Great Falls site has declined since then.
The estimated funding for the Great Falls Bridges Wearing Replacement Project is $500,000.
Scott Construction Corporation of Portland will perform the bridge wearing replacement work and distribute bridge closure notifications when needed. Both the Gorham and Windham Public Works Departments will also post notifications on social media accounts regarding project updates and bridge closures.
Work on the Great Falls Bridges project will start on Monday, Aug. 18 with traffic control devices put in place by Aug. 19. Soon thereafter the bridge may be closed temporarily to allow workers to remove all the bridge guardrails for both the east and west Great Falls bridges.
The project is expected to be completed by Oct. 31 Van Note said. <
