Maine DOT shares video of Old Town bridge collapse
Three Workers Injured When Old Town Bridge Span Collapses During Construction
Old Town, Maine – A partial collapse of a new bridge under construction in Old Town on August 13 left three contractors injured and raised questions about the safety of the project. The incident occurred just before 1:44 p.m. as workers poured concrete on the deck of the bridge that is being rebuilt along Stillwater Avenue.
The Maine Department of Transportation (DOT) released a short video on Tuesday showing the moment the span gave way. The collapse happened while the crew was working on the upper surface, and the sudden failure caused the girders on the upstream side to buckle and trigger a rapid collapse of the adjacent members.
Three workers, all contractors hired for the project, sustained injuries. One of them was taken to a local hospital with non‑life‑threatening wounds. The other two were treated on the scene and released without further medical care. Local public safety officials confirmed the injuries and stated that the workers were part of a crew from Woolwich‑based Reed & Reed Inc., the company contracted to build the new bridge.
A temporary detour bridge had already been installed beside the work site, allowing traffic to flow while construction was underway. The collapse, however, has disrupted the schedule and the DOT has yet to determine how much delay it will cause or whether additional costs will arise.
“We’re still in the early stages of investigation,” said a DOT spokesperson. “Observations to‑date indicate that the failure likely involved buckling of the outermost girder on the upstream side of the bridge span, followed by an immediate cascading failure of the adjacent girders.” The DOT plans to conduct a full engineering review and will release a definitive cause report once the analysis is complete.
In response to growing questions from the community, the DOT launched a new FAQ page on its website that covers the Old Town bridge replacement and the recent incident. The page states that the department is working closely with the contractors and local authorities to assess the situation and to keep the public informed.
The bridge project, which began in 2023, is a major effort to replace a deteriorating structure that has long been a bottleneck for traffic and commerce in the region. While the DOT has not yet issued a revised timeline, the collapse underscores the importance of rigorous safety checks on large civil works.
Maine officials say they will provide updates as the investigation progresses, and they urge the public to stay tuned for any changes to the temporary bridge routing or project milestones.
