Repairs to shut down Kelley Road bridge for three months

ORONO, Maine — The Kelley Road Bridge over Interstate 95 will be closed to traffic for about three months for repairs, beginning Monday. 

The bridge is slated to reopen on Aug. 21, and traffic will be detoured via Main Street, Forest Avenue and Stillwater Avenue for the meantime, the University of Maine Police Department said. 

Overall work on the bridge began last month and is expected to continue into October, the Bangor Daily News reported. 

The nearly 60-year-old bridge is long overdue for repairs. It has deteriorated as chlorinated water has seeped through the bridge joints onto the load-bearing columns.

In the past, crews have had to regularly prevent loose concrete pieces of the bridge from falling down onto the highway. 

It’s been more than a decade since the bridge’s substructure was repaired.

The work is being done by CPM Contractors of Freeport and is estimated to cost $1,992,228.52.