The state transportation department is getting ready to paint four sets of bridges along Interstate 295 in Portland.
Program manager Wayne Frankhauser Jr. says the work is necessary to enable the bridges to serve for up to 75 years.
“If we did not paint and allow the steel to continue to rust, it would greatly shorten the life of the bridges,” he says.
The work will be done at night to minimize traffic disruption. But Frankhauser says the blasting needed to strip the older, lead-based paint will be quite loud.
Notices have been sent to people living near the highway. Frankhauser says contractors will erect temporary barriers to lessen the noise, but it could still be loud during the roughly ten nights needed to remove paint.
The work will be done at bridges carrying I-295 over Preble Street Extension and Forest Avenue, the bridge carrying Deering Avenue over the highway, and bridges carrying I-295 over railroad tracks near Exit 5.