Portland’s Congress Square construction will continue into fall
Congress Square Intersection Work Delayed Again, Project Now Expected to Wrap Up on Halloween
Portland, Maine – Work on the long‑delayed redesign of Congress Square, the city’s busiest downtown intersection, has been pushed back once more. City officials announced that the upgrade project, which now includes new traffic signal foundations, ADA‑compliant sidewalks, new lighting, and landscaping, is slated for completion on October 31, the day of Halloween, after a recent discovery of unexpected underground conditions.
During excavation for the new traffic signal foundations, contractors encountered bedrock that differed from the conditions mapped in prior boreholes. The unstable ledge forced a redesign of the signal base design. City staff said the contractor is expected to return to the site on September 8 to carry out the new work.
The intersection redesign, originally scheduled for an end‑of‑July finish, has already slipped several times. Earlier this summer, crews hit an unidentified concrete duct bank that protects utility wires, setting a new target of August 31. This marks the third underground obstacle that has stalled the project: a backhoe in 2022 damaged two underground utility vaults, leading to significant delays; later complications caused the city to sever ties with its contractor, creating almost a three‑year standstill. The work was first expected to finish sometime in 2024.
The city restarted construction in the fall of 2025 after signing a new $3.1 million contract with Coastal Road Repair. Public Works Director Mike Murray said the complications stem from an old roadway system and, as a matter of “bad luck,” some underground features that had not been anticipated. “The previously discovered duct banks predate Central Maine Power and may have belonged to the former electric streetcar company,” he explained. “We knew there was a ledge present, but the one we ran into was unstable, which forced us to reengineer the foundation design.” Murray added, “I think there’s a lot of people that are looking forward to the end.”
Councilor Wes Pelletier echoed Murray’s optimism while acknowledging the difficulty of foreseeing the latest obstacle. “This discovery appears to be another issue that would have been very hard for those involved to foresee,” Pelletier said. “I’m hopeful that this finish date sticks.”
The intersection upgrades also include brick sidewalks, new paving, and plantings that are expected to be installed once the signal foundations are in place.
At the same time, the city’s Council approved additional funding for a separate, but related, project: the redesign of Congress Square Park. After construction costs ballooned, the design was amended to cut costs, and the council approved an additional $300,000 in April—down from a requested $500,000—in March. The park will feature a 20‑foot‑tall sculpture by renowned New York artist Sarah Sze, a piece previously funded by the Public Art Committee.
City officials are hopeful that the intersection project will finally reach its new Halloween deadline, but downtown business owners and residents—many of whom have already voiced frustration over the prolonged disruptions—will likely be watching the progress closely as the work moves into its final phase.
