Nov. 22 target date for bridge closure

SANGERVILLE – The Maine Department of Transportation plans to close the Piscataquis River bridge in Sangerville on or about Nov. 22 to begin a bridge replacement project.

Sangerville and Guilford town officials and representatives of the Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Department were updated Tuesday on the project, which will take 10 months to complete.

While the project is under way, all traffic will be directed to Pleasant Avenue, which turns into Hudson Avenue, to reach Guilford and locations beyond and to use the Douty Hill Road to reach Dover-Foxcroft and beyond.

A four-way stop light will be installed at the four-way intersection during the project, Wendell Harriman, DOT resident engineer for the project, said Tuesday.

The fact that more traffic will be directed to an already heavily used road prompted some concerns from Sangerville Town Manager Dick Drummond. He said speeding was a problem on Douty Hill Road, and the increased traffic would only make matters worse.

“We’re going to have a situation which will be cause for some concern,” Drummond said Tuesday.

In response, Harriman said the state and town would have to monitor it and address it if it does become a problem.

As directed in the contract with Technical Construction Inc. of Turner, the new bridge must be open for traffic by Sept. 2, 2005, and completed by Sept. 30, 2005. There will be no place for pedestrians to walk across the river to reach the river walk during the work period, Harriman said.

The now-enclosed steel bridge will be replaced with a conventional concrete and steel bridge featuring 3-foot rails and a sidewalk. The bridge will be built upstream about 7.8 feet beyond the current structure.