‘Snags’ delay repair of Deer Isle bridge

DEER ISLE – Maintenance on the Deer Isle-Sedgwick Bridge is facing some delays but is nearly complete.

According to the Maine Department of Transportation, the $6 million project is behind schedule for its July 3 completion date.

“We’ve been hitting a few snags,” said construction manager Robbin Lanpher. “This is a complex bridge and some of the work is taking longer than expected.”

Lanpher expects construction to extend for a few more weeks in July.

The DOT also has gone over the proposed $6 million by about $500,000, according to Lanpher.

“On paper we are over but we actually planned for it in a contingency budget,” he said. “We knew that [in] working with a suspension bridge there would be unknowns.”

Maintenance crews from Cianbro Corp. and the DOT have been replacing the bridge’s old concrete deck panels with prefabricated concrete panels. The new panels are covered in a membrane and “wearing layers” that will help prevent corrosion of the concrete, said Lanpher. Labor is taking longer than expected in grinding down the concrete to place the membrane and wearing layers.

Crews won’t be entirely finished by the end of the summer, however. Painting the bridge, which is scheduled for 2009-2010, will be sent out to bid after the redecking is finished, according to Meg Lane of the DOT.

The bridge will have a full opening on June 21 and 22 for the Lupine Festival, when all crews and equipment will be completely off the bridge, she said.

“Anyone with major orders or oversized loads will be able to take them through then,” Lane said.

mdabrieo@bangordailynews.net

664-0524