Neighbors concerned about noise as Maine Turnpike Authority begins work on Portland bridge

PORTLAND (WGME) — Starting next week, the Maine Turnpike Authority is going to start some major work on a bridge through Portland.

It’s the Forest Avenue Bridge at mile marker 50 near the Riverton neighborhood, and those renovations are bringing up long-standing neighborhood concerns about noise.

The Forest Avenue Bridge was built in 1955. Now 70 years later, the bridge is getting much needed repairs.

“Repairing deteriorated concrete and putting in some line striping, that type of thing,” Maine Turnpike Authority Director of Communications Rebecca Grover said. “But some of the work is done underneath the bridge, which means it’s going to be done on Forest Avenue.”

Grover says although Forest Avenue sees nearly 15,000 drivers a day, the repairs shouldn’t cause too much backup.

“Lanes of traffic will be completely open during the day,” Grover said. “But in the evening, they will be down to one lane with a flagger controlling the traffic.”

Turnpike officials warn the biggest issue may be the overnight construction noise, but homeowners say they’re already used to it being loud in that area.

“We love the neighborhood, we love living in the city, we love the proximity to everything,” James Townsend, who lives near the Forest Avenue Bridge, said. “I’d say the number one thing we complain about is the noise, and that’s coming both from Forest Avenue, but also from I-95.”

Neighbors who live along I-95 say something needs to be done to reduce traffic noise levels.

“There’s excessive noise,” Townsend said. “It is more than just in the background. It is like you have to pause a movie and kind of rewind. It’s like, ‘Wow, that’s really loud.’”

MTA officials say in the upcoming years, they plan to replace the entire bridge.

But in the meantime, they are preparing to conduct neighborhood noise assessments to explore potential solutions for reducing vehicle related noise.

“There’s a whole range of things that we can do that will deflect the noise to various levels,” Maine Turnpike Authority Executive Director Andre Briere said.

Turnpike officials estimate the current bridge work is set to be substantially complete by Thanksgiving.