OLD TOWN - The Maine Department of Transportation will be closing the two Llewellyn Estes Bridges that carry Stillwater Avenue over the Stillwater River in Old Town on Tuesday, August 22nd. This is expected to be a one-day closure that will begin at 6:00 a.m. and end no later than 9:00 p.m. This closure is needed so contracting crews can safely install the crane that will be used to construct a two-lane temporary bridge upstream from the existing bridge this fall. Detour signs will direct traffic from Stillwater Avenue to Route 2A (College Avenue), Route 2 (Main Street), and Route 16 (Bennoch Road) before returning traffic to Stillwater Avenue.

On-site construction work for the temporary bridge began on July 24th. Throughout construction, drivers may encounter lane restrictions to accommodate the delivery of materials and equipment to the job site. Traffic is expected to begin using the temporary bridge by the end of April 2024. This temporary bridge will carry two-way vehicle traffic, a pedestrian sidewalk, and temporary utilities in preparation of the replacement of the existing bridge system.

In early 2022, MaineDOT advertised this bridge replacement project for construction bids. The bridge work was bundled with plans to improve the Bennoch Road (Route 16) and College Avenue (Route 2A) intersections. The low bid on this project was nearly double what the department had budgeted. For this reason, the department rejected all bids on the project and is now pursuing separate contracts for the nearby intersection and highway work and the bridge replacements.

In July 2022, the department imposed a 30-ton weight restriction on the northerly span of the two-bridge system that makes up the Llewellyn Estes Bridge.

Woolwich-based bridge contractor Reed & Reed, Inc. is working with MaineDOT through a Construction Manager/General Contractor design agreement to streamline design and construction activities for the replacement of the two Llewllyn Estes Bridges. The awarded amount for this first phase of construction is $10 million. Additional contracts will be awarded for future phases of the bridge replacement work. A contract for the nearby highway work was awarded to Gordon Contracting of Sangerville on June 29th for $10.9 million. On-site road construction work is expected to begin later this year.