After a piece of concrete from a bridge came crashing through a car’s windshield last week along Interstate 295, the Maine Department of Transportation is taking steps to inspect and secure the bridge.
A man driving south said a piece of concrete hit his car Friday after driving under a bridge that carries the Falmouth Spur over I-295.
“If this was only a few feet over that would have been my body, and I probably wouldn’t be coming home to my child,” the car’s driver, Damon Pawlak, said. “I was lucky. I hope this will never happen to me again in the future, but I’m really scared of other people out there that this could happen again.”
After the incident, Department of Transportation crews were sent out to inspect the bridge and make sure it was still safe for those driving underneath.
“MaineDOT took immediate action when we were notified about Friday morning’s incident,” spokesperson Paul Merrill said. “We sent crews to assess the situation. The crew did find an area of loose concrete and removed it.”
The bridge in question was built in 1960 and was last inspected in April, according to state records.
In a previous inspection report, road crews rated the bridge’s deck and substructure in “fair” condition and its superstructure in “satisfactory” condition. The report highlighted minor issues with deterioration and section loss.
The bridge is currently not scheduled to be repaired or replaced under the Department of Transportation’s three-year work plan.
The majority of bridges across Maine are inspected by the state every two years.