New Traffic Pattern Begins Tomorrow On Interstate 95 In Hampden

If you travel the highway at all in the Bangor area, you've likely encountered the construction going on on Interstate 95 through Hampden. For the most part so far, it's typically been reduced to one during the day, and opens up again at night and on weekends/holidays.

But starting tomorrow, there will be a new traffic pattern in that area. For a while now, they've been building a temporary bridge that will ultimately be used to divert traffic out of the normal travel lane, so they can replace the old bridge that spans the Souadabscook Stream.

That by itself isn't much of a surprise, considering a lot of bridges in Maine are in dire need of replacement. Much like what folks are seeing a few miles further up the road in the Ohio Street area of Bangor. That bridge is also being replaced due to it's age and structural integrity. And the quarantine rules have kept roads relatively quiet.

But according to WABI - TV5, this will be the first of four diversions in this section of road. Northbound traffic will just be moved over slightly and be allowed to move freely. the DOT wasn't excited about the prospects of having detours that would cause havoc on side and back roads.

This way allows people to stay on the highway that way they don’t have to get off an exit and navigate the side roads to get back on. That also prevents people from overwhelming the local roads with traffic that is trying to get around on the interstate.

No specific window of when the project will be over, but it's nice to see the roads being improved. Sure, it sucks going down to 55mph on the highway, but it's way better than being moved off the highway onto back roads, making everything take longer. But hopefully soon things will be back to normal, and we can all start speeding again. Ha!