A plan to close a section of I-295 in Portland for a weekend in October of 2021 was canceled by the Maine DOT, but now a new date for the closure has been announced.

The Maine DOT has been working on replacing a bridge on I-295 that passes over Viranda Street in Portland and also reconstructing Veranda Street to improve the traffic flow along it. To minimize the closure time of I-295, a new bridge has been constructed next to the old one and will be swapped with what's called a "lateral slide technique" where the old bridge is torn down and the already constructed replacement is slid into its place. It's a pretty impressive way to replace a bridge.

To do that though, I-295 has to be closed down while they make the move. The closure was originally scheduled from October 22 to 25 of last fall, but several snags including a supply shortage of materials needed to make the move. Now though it seems the Maine DOT has what they need to move the new bridge into place.

So if you usually commute into or out of Portland through Falmouth, you'll need to take an alternate route as I-295 will be closed from Exit 8 at Washington Avenue in Portland to Exit 10 at Bucknam Road in Falmouth beginning Friday, April 22 at 7 p.m. and going until 11 a.m. on Monday, April 25. Veranda Street under the bridge will be also be closed for a full week starting at 2 p.m. on April 18, to 2 p.m. on April 25.

Your best option to avoid all of this is to use the Maine Turnpike instead of I-295, but if you want to navigate your way through the construction, detour signs will be in place to guide you. You can likely expect some delays getting through the construction area.

Maine DOT
Maine DOT
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Want more information? Well, the legendary Lee Nelson took some time off from his modeling gig to explain it all with pictures and fancy charts and graphs in this video released last fall in preparation for the move that didn't happen. This time, however, it's on like Donkey Kong.

 

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