Bedford Street Sewer Separation Project Begins Construction April 16

PORTLAND, Maine -- The Bedford Street Sewer Separation project, which will separate the existing combined sewer in the street to a separate sanitary sewer and a separate storm water drain, will begin construction work the week of April 16. The sanitary sewage will continue to the wastewater treatment plant, while the storm water will tie into new storm drains to be installed in Bedford Street, Durham Street, Forest Avenue, Baxter Boulevard, Deerfield Road and Belmeade Road before ultimately discharging into Back Cove. The Portland Water District will also be replacing water mains within project streets.

Construction for this project will be performed by Shaw Brothers Construction, Inc. The first two weeks of the project will consist of installing two new storm drain outfall pipes into Back Cove along Baxter Boulevard between Preble Street Extension and Belmeade Road. During this sequence, traffic will be restricted to one lane in each direction along Baxter Blvd from Dartmouth Street to Preble Street Extension as crews work to install the storm drain outfall pipes into the cove. During the outfall construction, the Back Cove trail will temporarily be closed. Back Cove trail users will have an established detour lane along Baxter Boulevard as work is completed. Once the outfall work is complete, the project will head southwest along Baxter Boulevard towards Forest Avenue and Bedford Street.

Project work will typically run from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM during the project unless night work is