GSA sets opening date for Madawaska Land Port of Entry

Courtesy / General Services Administration The U.S. General Services Administration, in conjunction with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, has set June 6 as the opening date for the Madawaska Land Port of Entry.

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By Peter Van Allen

The Madawaska Land Port of Entry is set to open.

The U.S. General Services Administration, in conjunction with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, has set June 6 as the opening date.

The opening will draw to a close the decades-long border project, which is viewed as a key to economic, cultural and family connections on both sides of the St. John River.

On average each year, the port of entry processes nearly 432,000 southbound personal vehicles and another 16,000 trucks.

“After years of planning and coordination, we’re proud to complete this complex project,” said Glenn C. Rotondo, a public buildings service commissioner for the GSA.

The Madawaska port project includes design and construction of a new port on 10.7 acres. It replaces the now-obsolete port, which was built in 1959.

J&J Contractors Inc., which is based in North Billerica, Mass., won the $49.9 million contract to design and build the site.

“Through multiple iterations in planning, changing requirements and supply chain issues caused by a worldwide pandemic, GSA worked diligently with federal, state and local stakeholders including CBP, MDOT, Madawaska and Canadian stakeholders to deliver the residents of Madawaska and Edmundston, and the entire region, a long-term, safe and efficient flow of current and projected traffic volume, including the movement of goods and people between Edmundston, New Brunswick, and Madawaska, Maine," Rotondo said.

New bridge

A separate but related project is a new MDOT bridge that connects to the entry. It will have a 5-ton weight limit while construction activities continue on the bridge and Canadian Port of Entry.

Woolwich-based Reed & Reed won the contract to build the bridge, with a bid of $86.5 million. The estimated final completion date of this project is June 30, 2025.

The old bridge will remain open for pedestrian traffic only between the hours of 6-7 a.m. and 4-5 p.m. ET daily from June 3-6.

The ongoing construction will also involve the permanent closure of the old bridge for vehicular traffic on Monday, June 3 at 8 a.m.

This means that both Madawaska bridges will be closed to all traffic from June 3 until June 6. The next closest border crossings are in Fort Kent (19 miles to the west) and Van Buren (24 miles to the east).

An official grand opening and ribbon cutting for both the port and the bridge is currently being planned for August 15.