Interstate 395/Route 9 Connector

themissinglink

themissinglink

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Does anybody know whether the I-395/Route 9 connector is being constructed as a Super-2 highway or as a 4-lane expressway?
 
I believe it's been designed as a 2-lane rural highway (because very low traffic volumes), but I'd frankly be surprised if it ends up being constructed at all – contractors' bids are coming in orders of magnitude over budget all over the state, especially for isolated, hard-to-reach project locations like this one, and this is such a high-cost project that even slight cost overruns would create major strains in the statewide capital budget.

MaineDOT is increasingly facing the hard truth that it can't afford to maintain all the roads and bridges it has to take care of - a project like this is only going to add to its problems.
 
For those not familiar with the project:

I-395-Route 9 Connector Project | MaineDOT

www.maine.gov www.maine.gov

1661227124092.png
 
cneal said:
I'd frankly be surprised if it ends up being constructed at all – contractors' bids are coming in orders of magnitude over budget all over the state, especially for isolated, hard-to-reach project locations like this one, and this is such a high-cost project that even slight cost overruns would create major strains in the statewide capital budget.

MaineDOT is increasingly facing the hard truth that it can't afford to maintain all the roads and bridges it has to take care of - a project like this is only going to add to its problems.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure that construction on the project started in May, unless there is some recent delay that I'm unaware of.
 
If I were to guess, I'd anticipate that it would be similar to the Gorham Bypass. I believe the plan was to under/overpass the intervening roads.
 
It's a limited-access 2 lane road. Construction and grading has already started.

This has been 15+ years in the making, and MaineDOT is hell-bent on making it happen...despite cost overruns and objections from many different stakeholders
 
@Arlington , my guess is that it will be like ME-112 here. In that case, there is one intervening intersection (US-202), and that and the endpoints have roundabouts. I believe the 395 project won't connect to any of the small roads between US-1A and ME-9.

Update: I found the MDOT page with the contract details.... enjoy! (Possibly needs Chrome to open, I had trouble with Firefox.)
 
Right at the start of the 900 page pdf of plans. A single 12' wide travelway in each direction with an 8' shoulder (and presumably just a yellow stripe down the center)
Route-9-section.jpg
 
GIL said:
This is labeled as Route 9 — was there a page showing I-395?
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Not that I saw. None of the cross-sections that I saw looked anywhere near Interstate standard. But I wasn't looking for Interstate-standard things.

Why do you ask? My belief is that the new road is being called Route 9 in the drawings (not that they were somehow re-depicting existing conditions on Route 9 nearby)
 
I believe what's going to happen is that the I-395 designation will still end at US 1A, and the road will drop to two lanes from there. Looking closely, the new road ends at an intersection with Route 9 Business, a designation that doesn't currently exist. So I'm thinking that Route 9 will be rerouted over the new road and continue onto a concurrency with 395 across the river to the Main St. / US 1A exit where it will rejoin its current route to Hampden, and the current 9 will become 9 Business from that intersection to Eddington.
 
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