Webb Road is closed Wednesday as Bryan Berry, right, walks near the excavator he used to backfill the road in Waterville. A 6-foot culvert has been installed below the road. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel
WATERVILLE — The Maine Department of Transportation is winding up a weekslong project to replace a culvert on Webb Road.
The project required part of the road be closed, as crews also prepare for a $12.8 million project to replace two bridges on Interstate 95 that will force closure of part of Webb Road for an estimated 18 months.
The old culvert near the Humane Society Waterville Area has been replaced and the project is expected to be completed Friday, according to state DOT spokesman Paul Merrill.
He said the road surface will consist of compacted millings until weather conditions allow workers to pave the road.
Meanwhile, the project to replace two three-span bridges in the northbound and southbound lanes of I-95 began last year and is expected to be completed in 2024, Merrill said. The bridges were built in 1959 and are in poor condition, he said.
Part of Webb Road is scheduled to close April 3 for about 18 months for the bridge project, according to Andy McPherson, the city engineer in Waterville.
The new bridges will be single-span structures over Webb Road and increase the clearance over Webb Road below the bridges to reduce potential for vehicle impacts, Merrill said.
A worker walks Wednesday on an area of Webb Road in Waterville that is closed for installation of a 6-foot culvert. Workers backfilled the road that runs near the Interstate 95 bridges, shown at top of photograph. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel
To maintain traffic flow, workers plan to build a temporary diversion roadway in the I-95 median, between the northbound and southbound lanes, and move traffic from each barrel, one at a time, to the temporary roadway, to replace each bound in the same footprint as the existing bridges, according to Merrill.
“The diversion roadway will bury Webb Road and require closing the roadway for 18 months to facilitate construction of the new I-95 bridges,” Merrill said. “The contractor plans to replace the northbound bridge first in 2023 and then southbound in 2024.”
When both bridges are completed, Merill said the temporary diversion road north of Webb Road will be removed and the stream that flows through the area restored to its current condition.
“The diversion roadway to the south of Webb Road will remain in place for potential future use on the structures,” he said.
Merrill said the project received a $6.18 million grant through the federal Infrastructure for Rebuilding America Grant program.
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