After years of construction, the $107M I-395/Maine Hwy 9 Connector in Brewer, Maine opened, connecting major traffic routes and improving regional economy and wildlife safety. Completed ahead of schedule, the controlled-access highway is set to enhance travel times and reduce truck traffic in residential areas.
MaineDOT photo
Progress being made on the Clewleyville Road Bridge, July 2023.
The long-awaited Interstate 395/Maine Highway 9 Connector finally opened to traffic June 27, 2025, after years of construction.
The 6-mi. stretch of road had been in the planning stages for more than two decades and under construction since 2017 north and east of the town of Brewer, across the Penobscot River from Bangor.
Officials with the Maine Department of Transportation (MaineDOT) and Orono-based Sargent Corp., the project's prime contractor, were on hand for a ribbon-cutting ceremony prior to the road's debut, reported the Bangor Daily News.
The $107 million project was developed to complete a "missing link" between I-395 and Maine Highway 9, the latter of which runs from the U.S.-Canada border at the town of Calais — in the eastern part of the state — to the border with New Hampshire in the west.
The two highways are major traffic routes for the greater Bangor/Brewer area, the economic and employment center for Maine's north central region. The area also is a hub for the movement of goods because of its proximity to the interstate highway system and Canadian markets.
MaineDOT believes the I-395/Maine 9 Connector will reduce travel times to the Calais area and to all of eastern Maine.
It's opening also eliminates the need for drivers to use U.S. Highway 1A, Maine 46, and Maine 9 to reach the interstate, according to the Bangor news source.
Designed by MaineDOT engineers and awarded to Sargent in January 2022, the new road is built for 55 mph travel and will be a controlled-access highway, meaning that it can only be reached via U.S. 1A on the south end and the intersection of Maine 9 to the north.
In addition, the project includes five bridges, two snowmobile crossings, seven stream crossings — three in Felts Brook, one in Felts Brook Tributary, two in Eaton Brook Tributary and one in Eaton Brook — as well three wetlands and two wildlife crossings.
Among the new bridges that were built for the connector were crossings over Levenseller Road, Lambert Road, Clewleyville Road, Eastern Avenue and at the junction with U.S. 1A.
At the wildlife crossing sites, fences were erected to direct animals toward safe passageways under the connector road to lessen the chances of vehicles hitting the local fauna.
Not only will the new road improve traffic flow and safety but quicken the movement of goods while shifting a major highway route out of downtown Bangor and Brewer to better serve the region's economy.
Funding for the effort came from federal, state and grant sources, according to MaineDOT.
Multiple speakers at the event said the connector is likely to make the Brewer, Holden and Eddington communities through which it passes quieter due to the decrease in truck traffic.
In his remarks at the ceremony, Bruce Van Note, MaineDOT's commissioner, explained that the road was a much-needed addition to the state because truckers were forced to wind down more residential routes prior to its opening.
"This little 6-mile section has been a missing link from a system perspective," he said.
Van Note also noted that the connector highway was finished months before its expected Fall 2025 completion date. He added that he often worries about some projects coming in on time, but did not think twice about the I-395/Maine 9 Connector being late.
"When we do hundreds of projects a year and sign hundreds of bid awards a year, there's ones that you sign and go, ‘I wonder how that's going to go.' And then there's this one here," Van Note said.
The fact that Sargent Corp. is headquartered in Maine and employs many workers from the state also helped him feel more at ease about the project, he said.
Sargent President Eric Ritchie said that the job not only supported his Maine workers but will continue to help the state become better connected by shortening travel times and making far-flung places more accessible.
"A connector like this keeps Maine people in Maine," he said.
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