GARDINER —  The Maine Department of Transportation will begin demolition of the Bridge Street Bridge on Thursday, October 22.

The Bridge Street Bridge was built in 1917. It carries Route 201 over the Cobbossecontee Stream in downtown Gardiner.

Crews have already begun construction on the new bridge, according to MDOT, in a news release.

“We will be sliding the more-than-700-ton structure into place over the course of several days,” said MDOT.

The bridge slide is scheduled for the first week in November. Once the new bridge is in place, crews will work on connecting utilities and paving before the new bridge can open to traffic. All this work will take approximately 30 days. Traffic will be detoured to Summer and Winter Streets.

The new Bridge Street Bridge is scheduled to open in late November. The contractor will return in the spring to finish intersection and trail work.
 
The Bridge Street Bridge replacement project is the final phase of a series of comprehensive transportation improvements to downtown Gardiner that MaineDOT began last year, according to MDOT. Other aspects of this project include the 2019 replacement of the Maine Avenue Bridge, which was built in 1925 and widened in 1933. The East Coast Greenway Trail crosses the Maine Avenue Bridge, and the trailhead for the Kennebec River Rail Trail is nearby.

“Our project extended the Kennebec River Rail Trail to a new multi-use trail bridge that crosses the Cobbossee Stream,” said MDOT. “The trail enhancements include landscaping, salvaged granite, ornamental lighting, safety features, and interpretive panels.”
 
Reed & Reed, Inc. of Woolwich is the contractor on this project. The total contract amount is $12.6 million.