PEMBROKE – Traffic along a section of Route 1 is expected to be shut down the next three days while the Maine Department of Transportation replaces a major culvert in the road.

For several days now, a large yellow-flashing sign has been warning people of the impending shutdown, which is expected to start today and run through Thursday.

Herb Thomson, DOT’s director of communication, said Monday some construction work began on that portion of the road in Pembroke on Monday and traffic was limited to one lane alternating each way.

“But [today] they will have full closure and that will be at least for a day,” he said. “They put on the sign that it would be closed for three days, but if everything goes well, it will reopen Wednesday night,” he said.

Thomson said bad weather or unforeseen events could lead to delays – “all of the unexpected things that can happen in any construction project, so you just want to give yourself that margin of error.”

Flaggers are on site today, and traffic will be detoured onto Front Street then onto Old County Road, which reconnects with Route 1.

The closure of the road in Pembroke is just one of the many road construction projects happening on Route 1 this summer. Right now traffic is down to one lane in Robbinston as work crews replace and rebuild the road there.

There also are some traffic delays on Route 1 near Calais’ industrial park as work crews reconstruct the road in preparation for the new bridge that eventually will connect Calais with neighboring St. Stephen, New Brunswick. That new span is expected to open next year. Right now two bridges connect the two communities: the downtown Ferry Point Bridge and the Milltown Bridge near the city’s industrial park.

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