WOOLWICH, ME — The Maine Department of Transportation (MaineDOT) is replacing the Station 46 Bridge, which carries Route 1 over the Back River Creek Marsh and Rockland Branch of the Maine Central Railroad in Woolwich. The work area begins at the Taste of Maine Restaurant and extends north past the intersection of Route 1 and George Wright Road. The reconstruction of Route 1 will raise the roadway by approximately five feet to address flooding concerns and sea level rise. This project also involves the construction of an 85-foot-long bridge (the Pleasant Cove Bridge) to replace two culverts near George Wright Road; this work is being done to protect Route 1 and to eventually help restore tidal flow to the marsh.

The existing Station 46 Bridge was built in 1933. It is an aging structure with areas of significant deterioration. In 2019, the Annual Average Daily Traffic on the bridge was nearly 19,000 vehicles.

"Route 1 is one of the most important roadways in our state," said MaineDOT Project Manager Devan Eaton. "Maintaining safe and efficient passage through this area is extremely important to the economy. Our work to replace this bridge was designed to minimize traffic impacts. This project will also increase resiliency on a key piece of coastal infrastructure."

The contractor is Reed & Reed, Inc. of Woolwich. The construction contract amount is $33,547,697.

"We are pleased to build this key project right in our backyard," said Jackson Parker, Chairman & CEO of Woolwich-based Reed & Reed, Inc. "Reed & Reed widened and rehabilitated that same bridge in 1980, so we are happy to upgrade it once again. Some of our employees who worked on that 1980 project are still with us, and I'm sure they will be back on the project this time."

The contractor is currently building a temporary detour roadway to maintain one lane of traffic in each direction on Route 1 throughout construction. All work is expected to be finished by the end of 2024.