AUGUSTA — Motorists looking to get on or off Interstate 95 southbound in Augusta are going to face a series of nighttime ramp closures starting tonight.
The southbound ramps will be closed to allow crews first to remove deteriorating pavement and later to repave them as part of an ongoing interstate resurfacing project.
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The work will take place at night, when there is less traffic, according to Mark Latti and Meg Lane, spokespeople for the Maine Department of Transportation.
“We realize a lot of people utilize these ramps, so we tried to minimize the impact by only closing it at night,” Latti said.
No northbound ramps in the area are affected. Those will remain open throughout the project. Each affected ramp will reopen to traffic by 6 a.m.
Work starts tonight and is expected to continue until Monday.
Tonight the Exit 112 off-ramp will close at 7 p.m. for pavement removal, and the Exit 112 on-ramp will close at 9 p.m. for pavement removal, according to the DOT.
On Thursday, those same areas are due to be repaved. The Exit 112 off-ramp will close at 7 p.m., and the Exit 112 on-ramp at 9 p.m.
Also Thursday, the Exit 109B ramp will close at 7 p.m. for pavement removal.
Friday, the Exit 109B ramp will close at 7 p.m. for paving.
Sunday, the Exit 109A on- and off-ramps will close at 7 p.m. for pavement removal. Those same ramps also will close at 7 p.m. Monday for paving.
Lane said it’s standard procedure for the DOT to do a full ramp closure when crews are working on interstate on- and off-ramps.
“The ramps are too narrow to keep half of them open to traffic at night,” Latti said. “It’s too dangerous.”
Message boards placed in the area warn motorists to seek alternate routes, but they don’t specify formal detours.
Latti, acknowledging the presence of bustling retail stores at the exits, said shoppers should be able to find their way around the ramp closures.
For example, a motorist driving south during the southbound Exit 112 off-ramp closure, and looking for access to The Marketplace at Augusta or other stores at Exit 112, could continue south to take Exit 109, reverse direction after exiting, then come back north on Interstate 95 to use the still-open northbound Exit 112; or travel local roads to The Marketplace.
“A lot of people who use these roads are local, so they are aware of other routes,” Latti said.
Crews can remove pavement while it is raining, but weather must be dry for them to be able to pave; so the schedule for that part of the project is subject to change.
Each night, the ramps will be closed until the work is complete or until 6 a.m., whichever comes first.
Night work will continue on southbound travel lanes of the interstate as well, as crews install guardrails and perform other rehabilitation work as part of a $4.1 million project to repave about nine miles of the highway. Pike Industries is the prime contractor.
Latti asked that all drivers be aware of construction workers during the construction periods and drive cautiously through work zones.
Keith Edwards — 621-5647
kedwards@centralmaine.com
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