HOLDEN, Maine — It's been years in the planning and now the construction for the I-395/Route 9 Connector project is scheduled to begin in September.
The Maine Department of Transportation (MaineDOT) project is expected to last three to four years and will cost an estimated $104 million.
MaineDOT spokesperson Paul Merrill says ten properties will be impacted by the project. Seven of those properties have been acquired and they are still working out the details on the other three.
Merrill says it’s a big price tag project but it’s an important investment to make that they think will be worth the money.
"It’s going to connect 395 with Route 9. Right now those connections are a series of roads with different speed limits and different alignments," Merrill said. "We think having the 6-mile straight shot that’s probably going to be 55 miles an hour speed limit, is going to provide an important connection from the Bangor market and the greater Bangor area too points down east and into Canada."
The new road will travel from the 395 interchange ramps in the city of Brewer through the towns of Holden and Eddington to Route 9.
Merrill says the Wilson Street Bridge construction project that is currently going in Brewer will greatly help traffic management when it comes time to reconfigure at the ramps.
