The new bridge connecting Dresden to Richmond will open Friday, Dec. 5, eight months ahead of schedule, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony starting at 10 a.m.
The 1,500-foot-long bridge will replace a metal swing bridge that has spanned the Kennebec River for 83 years.
The Dresden-Richmond Bridge, renamed the Maine Kennebec Bridge, has been under construction since July 2013. It has been completed earlier than the anticipated July 2015 date, according to the Maine Department of Transportation.
Federal money will cover 80 percent of the estimated $18.6 million project, and the DOT is funding the other 20 percent, according to the DOT.
Built in 1931, the original bridge project cost the state $260,000, according to a Sept. 8, 1932 edition of the Lewiston Daily Sun.
U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, representatives of the DOT, and selectmen from Dresden and Richmond will attend Friday’s ceremony.
Elementary school students from Richmond and Dresden, as well as the oldest and youngest residents from the towns will attend the ceremony, Dresden Administrative Assistant Trudy Foss said.
Gov. Paul LePage was invited to attend, according to Third Selectman Allan Moeller.
Dresden will open Pownalborough Hall at 9:30 a.m. for a place to grab a cup of coffee and see pictures of the bridge throughout the years, Moeller said.
