Official tries to ease bridge concerns

BUCKSPORT – It won’t be as bad as you expected.

That was the message from a state transportation official who was in town Tuesday to try to allay local concerns about the major renovation project on the Waldo-Hancock Bridge.

Residents, and particularly business owners, have been concerned about the project since May when a meeting with representatives from the Maine Department of Transportation left the impression that they could face six years of traffic interruptions from the project.

With fresh memories of a Route 1 highway project that caused lengthy delays on the major roads through town, that possibility seemed very real. Fears were heightened when residents learned that the American Automobile Association had been advising travelers to avoid the area because of the project.

Although the bridge work will be a multiyear project, Deputy Transportation Commissioner Jane Lincoln told members of the Bucksport Area Chamber of Commerce that the department is searching for ways to ensure that traffic will keep moving across the bridge during the project.

“We’re looking for ways to ensure that traffic is mitigated and controlled and that the impact is lessened to the extent possible,” Lincoln said.

The project has been planned in four phases, and much of the work, she said, will have little or no impact on traffic across the bridge.

The first phase of the project, for example, has been under way for more than a month with little interruption in the flow of traffic. The project involves reinforcing the underwater concrete piers that support the bridge, and that part will continue into next year.

Lincoln said the department anticipates some partial lane closures when the construction crews pour the new concrete for the piers. That work will be done over six to 10 days, mostly at night during low traffic times.

The rest of the project will include rewrapping the main cables on the bridge and replacing the suspender cables, now scheduled to begin in March 2002 and continue into the fall of 2003; replacing the deck, planned for 2003 through 2004; and painting, from 2004 through 2006.

The deck replacement will likely cause most of the traffic problems, and Lincoln said department officials are studying ways to ease those problems.

“That’s going to be the most difficult phase to find a way to accommodate traffic,” she said. “We’re looking at a variety of things, including night work and using a rapid-set concrete in the process.”

Although local officials favor the night work option, they have warned that work schedules will need to accommodate shift changes at the International Paper Co. mill in town and at MBNA New England in Belfast, both of which generate significant traffic flows across the bridge.

The department also is reviewing traffic studies and considering ways to coordinate the delivery and storage of materials in order to limit traffic woes. It plans to schedule most of the deck work outside the peak travel time during the summer months. Some work on the cables, however, involves the application of a temperature-sensitive sealant to the cables, and will have to be done when the temperature remains above 40 degrees F.

In some areas, Lincoln said, the department has simply closed a bridge and rerouted traffic around the area. There are some advantages to that approach, she said.

“Often, we can take a project that would take two years and get it done in about six months,” she said. “It can save time and it can save money.”

With the amount of traffic that goes across the Waldo-Hancock Bridge – estimated at 7,000 to 8,000 vehicles a day – closing the bridge completely is not an option, she said.

In response to questions, she added that other options for moving traffic during the project – including the possibility of running a ferry across the Penobscot River – need to be considered. Such discussions should take place between DOT officials and the local public advisory committee that has been formed to work with the department on the project. The next advisory committee meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 8, at the Town Council chambers.

The DOT has hired a public relations firm that will work with the local committee in an effort to ensure that accurate information is presented to residents and to those who may travel through the area, Lincoln said. The department already has met with representatives from AAA and incorrect information about the project has been removed from the association’s Web site.

Lincoln also said the department is considering suggestions from the public for the project, including adding a pedestrian-bicycling path and installing lighting on the bridge. Although she said it was not possible to widen the bridge structure itself, there may be a way to attach a path on the outside of the bridge. Engineers will have to evaluate how much weight that would add to the bridge.

The lighting suggestion also is on the table, she said, but the department will have to evaluate how much that option might add to cost, which now is estimated at $21 million to $25 million.