AUGUSTA — The Rines Hill Bridge, which carries Water Street over the Maine Central Railroad track, reopened to two-way traffic Wednesday, wrapping up a project that imposed a detour on the south end of Augusta’s downtown.
During construction, which started in the spring of 2023, only one lane of northbound traffic remained open. The route is a well-traveled way for vehicle traffic to travel into the capital city’s historic downtown neighborhood. The open lane of northbound traffic was preserved to allow fire or rescue vehicles access to downtown and surrounding neighborhoods.
The Maine Department of Transportation awarded the bid for the $5.2 million project — to replace the bridge that was built more than nine decades ago — to New England Infrastructure Inc. of Hudson, Massachusetts.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Join the Conversation
We believe it’s important to offer commenting on certain stories as a benefit to our readers. At its best, our comments sections can be a productive platform for readers to engage with our journalism, offer thoughts on coverage and issues, and drive conversation in a respectful, solutions-based way. It’s a form of open discourse that can be useful to our community, public officials, journalists and others. Read more...
We do not enable comments on everything — exceptions include most crime stories, and coverage involving personal tragedy or sensitive issues that invite personal attacks instead of thoughtful discussion.
For those stories that we do enable discussion, our system may hold up comments pending the approval of a moderator for several reasons, including possible violation of our guidelines. As the Maine Trust’s digital team reviews these comments, we ask for patience.
Comments are managed by our staff during regular business hours Monday through Friday and limited hours on Saturday and Sunday. Comments held for moderation outside of those hours may take longer to approve.
By joining the conversation, you are agreeing to our commenting policy and terms of use. More information is found on our FAQs.
You can modify your screen name here.
Show less
Join the Conversation
Please sign into your CentralMaine.com account to participate in conversations below. If you do not have an account, you can register or subscribe. Questions? Please see our FAQs.