Despite raw material cost increases, the replacement of a century-old bridge between the Aroostook County town of Madawaska and Edmundston, New Brunswick, remains on track for completion in 2023.
Get Instant Access to This Article
Subscribe to Mainebiz and get immediate access to all of our subscriber-only content and much more.
- Critical Maine business news updated daily.
- Immediate access to all subscriber-only content on our website.
- Bi-weekly print or digital editions of our award-winning publication.
- Special bonus issues like the Mainebiz Book of Lists.
- Exclusive ticket prize draws for our in-person events.
Click here to purchase a paywall bypass link for this article.
Despite some raw material cost increases, a project to build a new bridge linking the Aroostook County town of Madawaska and Edmundston, New Brunswick, remains on track for completion in 2023.
“We are on schedule,” says Jackson A. Parker, chairman and CEO of Reed & Reed Inc., the Woolwich-based company awarded an $86.5 million contract in April 2021 by the Maine Department of Transportation. The project has a total price tag of $97.5 million.
About 35 Reed & Reed employees, out of 225 total at the employee-owned firm, are working on the project, with 15 Canadian crew members from New Brunswick-based Greenfield Construction on the other side of the border.
Parker says the first steel girders are set to be erected as of Aug. 22, with the 2023 finish line date unaffected by some cost challenges along the way.
“We have been hit with some cost increases driven by price volatility in various commodities, in particular steel and energy costs,” Parker says.
The new bridge will replace a 100-year-old structure approaching the end of its useful life, with a deck and superstructure in poor condition. For that reason, there has been a five-ton weight limit on the bridge since October 2017, creating a significant detour. The existing building and land port of entry on the U.S. side are also substandard and need to be replaced, according to the Maine DOT.
In 2021, Reed & Reed installed two pier foundations while Greenfield built two others.
The new bridge will be constructed on a new alignment, crossing the St. John River at an angle of around 45 degrees and be located 1,400 feet upstream from the existing bridge; because of the new alignment, the new structure will be nearly twice as long as the existing structure. The new structure will also include wider travel lanes and added shoulders on both sides, along with a raised sidewalk on the downstream side. Like its predecessor, the new bridge is designed to last 100 years.
After the new bridge opens to traffic in late 2023, Reed & Reed expects to begin demolishing the existing four-span truss structure.
“This is one of our larger bridge projects,” Parker says, “but smaller than some projects in the wind power sector.” He also notes that while the bridge height at 100 feet above the riverbed creates some difficulties, the project team is “doing an excellent job” working through the issues.
“We are pleased with our safety, quality, cost and schedule performance metrics,” he adds.
