Chamberlain bridge to close for repairs next week

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BANGOR – The Joshua Chamberlain Bridge, the middle of three bridges that connect Bangor and Brewer, will close Monday for repairs.

Drivers will need to seek alternative routes to cross the Penobscot River, and all vehicles with heavy loads will have to use the Penobscot Bridge.

Bangor and Brewer officials, worried about additional traffic on Bridge Hill in Brewer, asked the Maine Department of Transportation for a waiver to allow heavily loaded tractor-trailers to use the Veterans Remembrance Bridge, which is part of Interstate 395 and restricted by federal law to loads that are 80,000 pounds or less.

That request, however, was denied.

One local trucking company official called the decision not to use the I-395 bridge absurd.

“That’s so ridiculous, it’s unbelievable,” Tim Dysart, vice president of Dysart’s, which operates a trucking company, delivers oil and runs a truck stop-restaurant in Hermon, said Friday. “We should be on the interstate. It’s a much safer spot for us.”

Many of the local company’s trucks exceed the 80,000-pound weight limit for federal highways, but the closing should not affect any local deliveries, Dysart said. No state officials have contacted the trucking company to inform local drivers of the temporary bridge closing, said Dysart, who added that he found out when he saw a sign on Main Street in Bangor.

“It [will] have more of an effect with the Canadian trucks and the wood trucks,” which commonly carry up to 100,000 pounds, Dysart said.

Next week’s weather will determine the length of the closure, which is scheduled to begin at midnight Sunday, Barry Prescott, a bridge manager with the Maine Department of Transportation office in Bangor, said Friday.

“It will be closed to traffic until Friday [May 5] night … if the weather cooperates,” he said. “Right now it looks like it’s going to rain Monday and Tuesday. If it doesn’t rain real hard we’ll work; if it does, we won’t work.

“Hopefully, we can get it open on Friday,” but 6 p.m. Sunday is the project deadline, Prescott added.

One of six joints on the Brewer side of the 49-year-old overpass is in need of repair.

“Crews will be updating the expansion joints built into the bridge deck to allow the deck to expand and contract with changing temperatures,” Prescott stated in an April 25 press release.

A small portion, approximately 40 feet by 30 feet, will be paved on the Brewer side of the bridge, which was built in 1957, he added. The DOT’s long-range plan is eventually to apply new blacktop to the entire Chamberlain bridge, which is typically repaved every 10 to 12 years.

“We know the closure will inconvenience some people, but it’s maintenance work that needs to be done to protect the existing bridge and prepare it for a future resurfacing project,” Prescott said.

Two crews of 10 will work around the clock to get the job done, the DOT official said.

All local traffic can use the Veterans Remembrance Bridge or the Penobscot Bridge to cross the river, but because of federal highway weight limits, all trucks that weigh more than 80,000 pounds are limited to using the Penobscot Bridge.

Police Chiefs Don Winslow of Bangor and Perry Antone of Brewer asked for the temporary weight limit exemption to minimize traffic on Bridge Hill, a sharp incline at the mouth of the Penobscot Bridge that has a history of traffic issues related to tractor-trailers, but to no avail, Brewer City Manager Steve Bost said Friday.

“We made an attempt to work with the federal department to temporarily lift the weight limits restriction on I-395, as it related to the overpass project, but they declined,” he said.

Herb Thomson, DOT director of communication, said the agency asked the federal government to consider lifting the limit.

“We corresponded with the Federal Highway Administration; they said this would not be possible,” he said Friday. “They don’t have the authority to waive a restriction like this except in the case of an emergency.”

Incidents of tractor-trailer trucks spilling their loads on Bridge Hill have been documented in the last year, Bost said.

There is “no question” that driving Bridge Hill, especially when making a left from the bridge onto North Main Street, is difficult, Dysart said.

“Either way [truckers go], it’s not going to be very nice,” he said.

Brewer city officials are warning residents to take extra care while traveling in the Bridge Hill area, because of the additional truck traffic and to avoid the sector if possible.

“Motorists need to plan ahead as best as possible,” Bost said. “Recognize that there will be additional congestion on that bridge.

“Unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of alternative routes for people,” he said.

Bangor city officials said signs would be used to educate travelers about the middle bridge closure.

DOT officials have created a map and are telling truckers and residents about the issue with assistance of local media, Prescott said. The Maine Motor Transport Association also was contacted, Thomson said.

Think ahead and “seek alternative routes while this is going on,” Prescott advised motorists. “It makes it a lot easier for everybody.”

AT A GLANCE

Starting Monday, May 1, the Joshua Chamberlain Bridge will be closed to all traffic.

Alternate routes include Veterans Remembrance Bridge, which is part of Interstate 395, and Penobscot Bridge.

Loads that exceed the federal highway weight limit of 80,000 pounds must use the Penobscot Bridge.

The bridge repair is expected to be complete Friday afternoon, but could last until Sunday night if there is inclement weather.