Motorists in Auburn on Thursday and Friday should be aware of possible delays on area bridges as MaineDOT bridge maintenance engineers conduct routine inspections on several bridges.

Inspections are scheduled to begin after the morning commute and continue into the afternoon. MaineDOT will be utilizing an underbridge crane to conduct the inspections, and must close one lane of traffic during the inspections. Each of the bridges to be inspected have multiple lanes of traffic, so traffic delays are expected to be minimal.

A one-year federal pilot project that allowed six-axle, 100,000-pound trucks on Maine?s entire Interstate Highway System expires at midnight on Friday, December 17.

The pilot program increased the weight limits on Maine?s federal highways from 80,000 pounds to 100,000 pounds during this past year. With expiration of the pilot project, weight limits will return to 80,000 pounds. The 100,000-pound limit will continue to apply on the Maine Turnpike and on Maine?s non-Interstate roadways, as it has throughout the duration of the pilot.

Motorists who utilize Route 26/100 in Falmouth should be aware of periodic delays on Wednesday, December 29 (tomorrow) as construction crews must close the Falmouth Railroad Bridge in order to offload steel beams that will be utilized in the construction of the new bridge.

Crews will be closing the bridge every hour starting at 9:00 a.m. for periods of 10-15 minutes in order to offload steel beams from delivery trucks. All deliveries and unloading are expected to be completed by 3 p.m. that same afternoon.

Next week, the Maine Department of Transportation (MaineDOT) will post a weight limit on the Fort Kent International Bridge, which spans the Saint John River. The Fort Kent International Bridge is an international crossing that connects Fort Kent to the town of Claire, New Brunswick. The weight-limit posting will restrict traffic on the bridge to vehicles that weigh three (3) tons or less. The posting will go into effect on Wednesday, January 5 at 12:01 a.m.

The Maine Department of Transportation, in cooperation with the Bangor Area Comprehensive Transportation System and the Federal Highway Administration, is holding a public informational meeting to present the findings of the Bangor I-95 Corridor Study.

The informational meeting is at 7 p.m., Thursday, January 6 at the Eastern Maine Development Corporation board room on 40 Harlow Street in Bangor. Results of the transportation study will be presented, and there will be a question and comment period as well.

Maine Senate President Kevin Raye, MaineDOT Commissioner David Cole, and local officials celebrated the start of construction on a $7 million port expansion project in Eastport today with a groundbreaking at the construction site.

The ceremony marked the beginning of construction on the new bulk material handling system which will expand the capacity of the Estes Head Cargo Terminal in Eastport.

The Maine Department of Transportation has postponed tonight?s Augusta Exit 113 public hearing and rescheduled the hearing for Monday, January 24 at 6:00 at the Augusta City Center Lecture Hall.

At the public hearing, representatives of the Maine Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration will be available to explain the Exit 113 Proposed Alternative which will provide improved east ? west access from Route 3 to Route 27. The representatives will also listen to concerns, receive comments, and answer questions relative to the Environmental Assessment.

Motorists who utilize Route 26/100 in Falmouth should be aware of periodic delays on Thursday, January 20 as construction crews must close the Falmouth Railroad Bridge in order to offload steel beams that will be utilized in the construction of the new bridge.

Crews will be closing the bridge every hour starting at 9:00 a.m. for periods of 10-15 minutes in order to offload steel beams from delivery trucks. All deliveries and unloading are expected to be completed by 3 p.m. that same afternoon.

The Maine Department of Transportation, in conjunction with businesses and town and government officials in the Fort Kent area, have implemented a new traffic plan that now allows heavy truck traffic to cross the International Bridge in Fort Kent.

The 82-year-old bridge was posted with a weight limit of 3 tons early last month due to the deteriorating condition of the outside steel beams that support the bridge deck. As part of the new traffic plan, the new posted weight limit is four tons, and a signal system now regulates truck traffic across the bridge.

With the heavy snowfall throughout much of the state this year, the Maine Department of Transportation is urging motorists to use extra caution when entering roads and approaching intersections, as the unusually high snowbanks can limit a driver?s field of vision, creating dangerous situations for merging traffic.

While municipalities and MaineDOT work to lower and remove these high snowbanks, motorists need to use caution when approaching intersections and merging into oncoming traffic, due to blindspots created by the high snowbanks.