The new bridge between Lisbon and Durham, which carries Route 9 and Route 125 traffic over the Androscoggin River, opened Monday.
Work on the $6 million project began in November 2014 and was completed one year earlier than expected, according to a statement from the Maine Department of Transportation.
The new bridge is wider than the one it replaces. It as 5-foot shoulders and features a 5-foot-wide sidewalk on the upstream side.
The original bridge was built in 1936. Walter Parker, 94, was the first person to cross that bridge and was the first to ride across the new bridge on Monday, according to WCSH-TV.
“Well, it’s unbelievable,” Parker said during Monday’s celebration, which involved hundreds of people. “For 95 – I’m going to be 95 in August – it’s hard to take it all in. But it was really nice to be able to do that. When my brother and I went, there was no ceremony like this. There were no cameras.”
Wyman and Simpson of Richmond served as the project’s contractor.
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