MDOT prepares for Great Falls Bridges Project in Windham

By Ed Pierce

After a meeting in Windham in February about the upcoming Great Falls Bridges work and receiving public comments about the project, the Maine Department of Transportation is preparing to launch wearing surface replacement work for the bridge starting later this spring,

The Maine Department of Transportation will be reducing 
traffic to one lane crossing the Great Falls Bridges connecting
Windham and Gorham for wearing surface replacement 
work later this spring. PHOTO BY ED PIERCE

The project was first unveiled on MDOT’s list of road and bridge projects in its annual Three-Year Plan in January 2023.

According to MaineDOT Commissioner Bruce A. Van Note, the state’s Three-Year Plan is the primary way the department delivers on its mission to support economic opportunity and quality of life by responsibly providing residents with the safest and most reliable transportation system possible, given available resources.

Van Note said that the preliminary scope of work for this bridges project consists of replacing the wearing surfaces on the Great Falls Bridges. The east and west bridges span the Presumpscot River between North Gorham and Dundee Ponds.

The replacement of the wearing surfaces will preserve the longevity of the bridges’ existing deck and superstructure, Van Note said.

According to an MDOT study, 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.

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.

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.

“Transportation will always be a big job in Maine. Our state is almost the size of all five other New England states combined, yet our small population, about 1.41 million people, is about the same as that of New Hampshire, making us the least densely populated state east of the Mississippi River,” Van Note said. “Maine’s natural features and weather, while varied and beautiful, present additional challenges from an infrastructure perspective. To connect us all, Maine has an extensive, statewide, multimodal transportation system. That system includes 8,800 miles of state highways, 2,800 bridges and minor spans, six commercial airports, more than 1,300 miles of active railroad, 15 bus transit providers, passenger rail service, a state ferry service, three major seaports, and miles of active transportation corridors. Simply put, Maine has more transportation infrastructure per capita than most other states do.”

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 and destroyed the mills and a bridge built by Trickey, and settlement of the Great Falls site declined.

Estimated Funding for the Great Falls Bridges Wearing Replacement Project is $500,000. Work is expected to be finished by this summer. <

Upcoming bridge work to detour Route 115 traffic into Windham

By Ed Pierce

For thousands of motorists who rely on Route 115 to get to their destination daily, the commute in and out of town is about to get a little trickier for a few weeks.

Last week the Maine Department of Transportation revealed the start date for a project to shore up the Narrows Bridge on Route 115, which spans Ditch Brook. Work on the bridge was originally scheduled to take place in the spring of 2020 but was postponed because of school schedules and resulting traffic delays and detours for school buses.

MDOT construction crews will begin work on the Narrows
Bridge on Route 115 in Windham starting on Monday, July 26.
The work will cause the reduction of traffic on Route 115 to
one lane eastbound. Vehicles entering Windham westbound from
Gray will be detoured onto Route 202. PHOTO BY ED PIERCE  

The $150,000 project will remove the east bridge joint and replace it with a new armored joint, removal of the west bridge joint and replace it with a new APJ asphaltic plug joint, applying sealer to wearing surfaces of the bridge, and extensive repair of the abutment over Ditch Brook. Work on the project will begin on Monday morning, July 26, and is estimated that the work will take about three weeks overall to complete.

The Narrows Bridge is located some 250 feet west of Running Brook Road on Route 115, also known as the Tandberg Trail and just west of the Falmouth Road intersection. Thousands of vehicles use Route 115 and cross the Narrows Bridge each day as it connects Windham to Gray, the Maine Turnpike and points beyond.

According to Maine DOT officials, work on the Narrows Bridge will force the reduction of traffic on Route 115 to one lane for the duration of the project.

MDOT says that vehicles entering Windham from Gray on Route 115 will be detoured onto Route 202 to either Falmouth Road or Route 302 to reach their destinations. Traffic on Route 115 will only be allowed to travel east away from Route 302 for the duration of the Narrows Bridge work. 

Traffic signs for associated project detours were put in place several weeks ago and will be uncovered Sunday, Maine DOT says.

Residents of the Running Brook, Collinwood and Wedgewood neighborhoods in Windham will be able to access Running Brook Road from both directions, according to Windham Public Works. A sign on Running Brook Road indicating “No Outlet, Residents Only” will be posted there at the entrance from Route 115 throughout the duration of the project.

Earlier this week, traffic on Route 115 in the area was limited to one lane briefly as Windham DPW workers repaired some erosion damage adjacent to locations the state project will tackle near Ditch Brook.

Because of the proximity to the Narrows Bridge, the Windham DPW erosion work was necessary prior to the Maine DOT project launch because of accessibility issues once the state begins work there, a representative of Windham DPW said in a social media posting.

In March. State Rep. Patrick Corey, R-Windham, said that the three-year MDOT Work Plan from 2021 to 2023 would include seven different projects totaling more than $2.5 million.

Among the projects included in the three-year plan was the Narrows Bridge repair and numerous improvements to Route 302 in Windham such as rehabilitation and construction to the roundabout there as well as safety improvements made possible through the municipal partnership initiative program.

“MDOT Work Plan projects will benefit our local communities in many ways,” Corey said in a press release. “I am pleased to see several MDOT projects scheduled for the next three years in our area. They will make our roads safer and benefit the local economy.” 

According to Paul Merrill, Maine DOT public information officer, detours associated with the Narrows Bridge repair project will end by Friday, Aug. 13.

“Some ancillary work, requiring an alternating single-lane traffic pattern, may occur after that date,” Merrill said. <