HAMPDEN — The Maine Department of Transportation opened the new East Souadabscook Stream Bridge to traffic on the southbound side of I-95 this morning, May 24. This is the first of four new southbound bridges on I-95 in Hampden that will be opened this year.

The Center and West Souadabscook Stream Bridges are expected to open next month. The last of the four new southbound bridges, the Emerson Mill Road bridge, is scheduled to be opened in late August or early September.

Additionally, the contractor is planning overnight closures of Emerson Mill Road at I-95 next week. These closures will happen between 7 p.m. and 5 a.m. They will occur from Tuesday, May 31 through Saturday, June 4. The last closure will be on Friday night into Saturday morning.

The Hampden Bridge Bundle Project involves rebuilding eight bridges and rehabilitating a ninth bridge along a four-mile stretch of I-95 in Hampden. The eight bridge replacements are happening on both the northbound and southbound sides of the interstate at four sites between Exits 174 and 180. Three of these bridge pairs cross the Souadabscook Stream and one pair crosses Emerson Mill Road and the Central Maine & Quebec Railway. The one bridge rehabilitation involved with this project is happening at the Exit 180 off-ramp on Cold Brook Road over I-95.

The four bridge replacements on the northbound side I-95 were substantially completed last year. Northbound traffic has been using the four new interstate bridges since then.

The contractor on the Hampden Bridge Bundle Project is Cianbro Corporation. The contract amount is $44.8 million. The estimated completion date of the project is November 30.