Vehicles cross the Ticonic Bridge into Winslow in October as workers build the new bridge that spans the Kennebec River, connecting Waterville and Winslow. Beginning Monday, the bridge is scheduled to be closed to all traffic for six months, with detours for pedestrians and vehicles. Work replacing the bridge began in December 2022 and is expected to be finished in May 2027. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel file

The Ticonic Bridge, which carries U.S. Route 201 over the Kennebec River between Waterville and Winslow, will close fully to traffic and pedestrians for about six months starting Monday.

The closure is necessary as part of a $52.8 million project to replace the bridge, according to the Maine Department of Transportation and Cianbro Corp.

Cianbro, the Pittsfield contractor working to replace the structure, has been allowing one-way traffic from Waterville east to Winslow with closures mostly overnight. But it is necessary to close it fully for six months in the first part of 2025 for total access.

Work on the project started in December 2022 and the new bridge is scheduled to be completed in May 2027.

“Both vehicles and pedestrians will be required to follow the posted detour routes,” a DOT news release says of the upcoming six-month closure. “Vehicles will be detoured south to the Carter Memorial Bridge. Pedestrians will be detoured north to the Two Cent Bridge.”

After the six-month closure, eastbound vehicles will be allowed to traverse the bridge and pedestrians will be able to use new sidewalks on the upstream side of the bridge, according to the DOT. However, westbound traffic will be prohibited on the bridge for 12-18 months while construction continues.

Motorists have been using the Carter Memorial Bridge, south of the Ticonic, as an alternate route to travel to and from Winslow and Waterville. Drivers also use the bridges spanning the Kennebec River from Fairfield to Benton.

The new bridge is being built one half at a time, on the existing alignment, according to the DOT.

“The new bridge will be a two-span structure, made of corrosion-resistant steel girders and a concrete deck,” the release said. “A single concrete pier will be built in the river to support the new bridge. This will reduce the likelihood of ice jams. Portions of the old bridge are more than 100 years old and at the end of their useful life.”

A Morning Sentinel newspaper clipping from 1936 shows floodwater threatening the Ticonic Bridge days before the bridge was wiped out. Morning Sentinel file

The new bridge will carry five lanes of traffic, similar to that of the existing bridge, and it will have widened shoulders and include sidewalks on both sides.

Funding to replace the bridge includes a $25 million federal grant, and about $20 million in additional federal funding, with the remainder funded with state and local money. The state DOT’s grant application to the U.S. Department of Transportation says the bridge had deteriorated to the point that the end of its useful life was near. Further attempts to repair or rehabilitate the bridge would not restore the full integrity of the structure to meet today’s safety needs, load requirements or geometric standards.

The bridge was a steel truss bridge in the 1800s, according to the state DOT website. In the early 1900s a concrete-arch trolley bridge was built and opened in December 1909, with a 500-foot track that spanned the river at Main and Bridge streets in Waterville. In its heyday, the trolley carried more than 2 million passengers a year.

The flood of 1936 significantly damaged the bridge and reconstruction was done as part of the U.S. Works Program Flood Relief projects, according to DOT. The bridge was widened in 1970.