Pump the brakes, late-night drivers; Ticonic Bridge will close to overnight traffic

The Kennebec River swells underneath the Ticonic Bridge connecting Waterville and Winslow during the flooding that occurred early this month. Construction work to replace the deteriorating bridge is intensifying and officials say it will be closed to overnight traffic periodically over the next couple of weeks. Michael G. Seamans/Morning Sentinel file

WATERVILLE — The effort to replace the Ticonic Bridge is intensifying and officials over the next couple of weeks plan to periodically close it to overnight traffic so that utility work can be done.

No vehicles will be allowed to cross the bridge, which spans the Kennebec River connecting Waterville to Winslow, beginning at 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 25. The closure will continue to 6 a.m. Friday, May 26. Electronic message boards will be used to notify drivers, according to a notice distributed by Peter Berube, a project engineer for the contractor, Cianbro Corp.

Should rain prevent the work from being done, the closure will be rescheduled for Thursday, June 1.

Although vehicles will be rerouted, pedestrians will be allowed to cross the bridge during the overnight hours.

The bridge will again be closed to overnight traffic beginning Sunday, June 4. The overnight closures will continue through Thursday, June 8, and into the morning of Friday, June 9.

Berube said in an email that there’s a chance the closures could continue the following week but it depends on how the utility work progresses. Public notifications will be distributed should additional closures be needed, he said.

The bridge is 113 years old and no longer structurally sound. It will cost nearly $53 million to replace it and the work is scheduled to last four years.