AUGUSTA — A 62-year-old bridge over the Kennebec River in Augusta is due to get a paint job that is expected to cost about 10 times the span’s original construction cost.

The Memorial Bridge paint job is expected to cost about $12 million. In 1949 it cost $1.2 million to build.

Transportation Department spokesman Mark Latti says the high cost of repainting the 2,100-foot bridge is due to its size and the need to contain the lead paint that must be removed without allowing it to fall into the river.

The bridge was last repainted in 1992.

Latti tells the Kennebec Journal the project could take up to a year.


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