A spokesman for a contractor building a new $2.7 million bridge over the Presumpscot River hopes the span will be completed in September.
The building of the bridge between Gorham and Windham on Route 202 is ahead of schedule. Dick Cousens, a project superintendent with CPM Constructors of Freeport, said the completion date was originally scheduled for November.
Twenty 82-foot long reinforced concrete beams, weighing 78,000 pounds each, were delivered and set in place last week. Two more will be installed within the next two weeks. Each beam stretches from an abutment on the bank to a pier in the river.
The beams were manufactured in Middlebury, Vt. Each beam was individually transported to the site on a truck. The trucks backed along Gray Road in Little Falls from the roundabout to the bridge site to offload their cargo.
The new bridge replaces a former one that had two piers in the river. Cousens said the project included the installation of two water mains and a sewer main through the bridge.
Construction began last fall. A single lane temporary bridge has handled traffic while the new bridge is being built.
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