The Stillwater Avenue Bridge
In July 2022, MaineDOT placed a weight restriction on the Llewellyn G. Estes Bridge on Stillwater Avenue in Old Town. The bridge carried roughly 100,000 truck trips per year, most of them loaded with wood products. One-third of Maine's harvested wood traffic crossed that single span. (MaineDOT)
The weight restriction forced loaded trucks onto longer routes. Detour fuel costs alone added an estimated $550,000 per year to the state's forestry supply chain. (MaineDOT) A temporary detour bridge opened in May 2024, and a permanent replacement is underway. But for nearly two years, one deteriorating bridge disrupted a significant share of Maine's resource economy.
That pattern repeats across the state. Maine's economy runs on industries that depend on rural infrastructure: forestry, agriculture, fishing. When a bridge on a rural route posts a weight limit or closes, the alternatives are few and the costs are real.
Statewide Snapshot
Maine has 2,542 bridges. (ARTBA 2025) Of those, 392 are rated in poor condition, which is 15% of the state's inventory and more than double the national average of 6.7%. (ARTBA 2025) Only Iowa (19%), West Virginia (18%), and South Dakota (16%) have higher rates.
Poor roads and bridges cost Maine motorists an estimated $1.6 billion per year, or up to $1,824 per driver, in additional vehicle operating costs, lost time, and crash-related expenses. (TRIP) More than half of all bridges in the state have exceeded their 50-year design life. (MaineDOT) The bridges are not imminently dangerous, but the inventory is old, and old structures cost more to maintain and are more likely to need weight restrictions.
The full state breakdown is available on ARTBA's Maine bridge profile.
Maine's Ownership Structure
Maine is the only state in the country with no county government. There is no intermediate layer between the state and its municipalities. Bridge responsibility splits between MaineDOT and more than 400 towns, with no county highway department to fill the gap.
MaineDOT handles bridges on state and state-aid highways, plus higher-use town bridges. Low-use town bridges fall under a cost-share formula where the town pays the lesser of 50% of project cost or 1% of its property tax valuation. Minor spans between 10 and 20 feet are entirely the town's responsibility. By deck area, MaineDOT covers roughly three-quarters of the state's bridge needs. (MaineDOT)
Small towns lack engineering staff and have limited tax bases. MaineDOT's Bridge Ranger program provides free technical assistance, but the gap between what rural municipalities need and what they can fund remains wide. The worst bridge conditions are concentrated in the rural north and Downeast regions, exactly where municipalities are smallest.
This structure means Maine's bridge problem cannot be solved through one agency. MaineDOT can invest in its own inventory, but hundreds of small towns must find the money and expertise to maintain theirs. That organizational reality drives much of what follows.
Where the Problem Is Worst
County-level data is available for 6 of Maine's 16 counties. The pattern is consistent: the highest poor-bridge rates are in the rural north and Downeast corridor.
| County | % Poor | Region |
|---|---|---|
| Piscataquis | 24% | North-central |
| Washington | 22% | Downeast |
| Knox | 21% | Midcoast |
| Hancock | 21% | Downeast |
| Oxford | 21% | Western mountains |
| Penobscot | 14% | Central |
Note: Data covers 6 of Maine's 16 counties. Three counties (Knox, Hancock, Oxford) share the same 21% rate after rounding to whole numbers. (FHWA NBI analysis)
TRIP regional data fills in some additional context. The Bangor region has a 15% structurally deficient rate, Central Maine sits at 14%, and Southern Maine has the lowest poor rate at 10% but the highest functional obsolescence. (TRIP)
Climate accelerates deterioration in these regions. Coastal and southern Maine experience 12 to 22 multi-day freeze-thaw cycles per winter, and de-icing salt compounds the corrosion damage. Increasing extreme precipitation events add hydraulic stress to aging structures already past their design life. (MaineDOT; ASCE)
Progress Lost
Between 2010 and 2020, Maine made substantial progress reducing the number of poor-condition bridges. Then the trend reversed. In 2021, the state had 314 structurally deficient bridges. By 2025, that number had grown to 392, an increase of 78 bridges (25%) in roughly four years. (ARTBA 2025; ASCE)
The ASCE bridge grade for Maine dropped from C- in 2020 to D+ in 2024. (ASCE 2024) The current condition breakdown is approximately 15% poor, 60% fair, and 25% good. (MaineDOT) That 60% fair pool is the forward-looking concern. Fair-condition bridges are the pipeline feeding future poor ratings, and with more than half the inventory already past its 50-year design life, the flow from fair to poor will continue unless repair rates accelerate.
Several factors drove the reversal. A large cohort of bridges hit the end of their design life within the same window. Construction costs climbed 68% since 2021, meaning the same dollar buys significantly less bridge work. (MaineDOT) And the frozen gas tax continued eroding the purchasing power of the Highway Fund, which is the primary revenue source for bridge work.
The Funding Gap
Maine's gas tax has been frozen at 30 cents per gallon since 2011. The state had previously indexed the rate to inflation, but the legislature suspended indexing and never reinstated it. If indexing had remained in place, the rate would be approximately 41.7 cents per gallon in 2024, generating roughly $95 million more per year. (MECEP)
Total lost revenue since 2011: $588 million. (MECEP) The Highway Fund faces a projected shortfall of $280 million through FY2027, roughly a quarter of the biennial budget. Reinstating indexing alone would close 86% of that gap. (MECEP) For a detailed breakdown, see the Maine Center for Economic Policy analysis.
Construction cost inflation compounds the shortfall. With costs up 68% since 2021, MaineDOT is spending more on each project while revenue stays flat. (MaineDOT) The state is not standing still on this problem, but the revenue gap is widening faster than current measures can close it.
What's Being Done
Since 2018, Maine has invested $6.8 billion in highway and bridge work, resulting in 366 bridges repaired with 289 more in the pipeline. (MaineDOT) In 2023, a bipartisan agreement committed roughly $200 million per year to transportation infrastructure. The state has also issued $50 million in GARVEE bonds to front-load bridge projects. (MaineDOT)
Federal funding has added significant capacity. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) is providing $225 million in dedicated bridge formula funds to Maine over FY2022 through FY2026, along with $1.3 billion in core highway and bridge formula funds. (FHWA)
Three federal Bridge Investment Program (BIP) awards highlight the scale of individual projects. The I-395 bundle covers six bridges for $63 million. The Waterville/Sidney corridor received $70 million. An off-system bridge bundle is replacing nine rural bridges with 75-year design-life structures, at a benefit-cost ratio of 32.12. (FHWA BIP) Separately, the Ticonic Bridge replacement in Winslow and Waterville is a $52.8 million project to replace a 113-year-old structure. (MaineDOT)
The legislature is debating additional revenue sources, including new bond proposals and vehicle-related fees. None have been enacted as of early 2026. The investment is real, and the pace of repairs is meaningful. But 68% cost inflation and a frozen gas tax mean the gap between need and capacity keeps widening.
What "Poor Condition" Means
A bridge is classified as being in "poor condition" if any one of its three primary components (deck, superstructure, or substructure) receives a rating of 4 or below on the NBI's 0-to-9 scale. A poor rating does not mean a bridge is unsafe or at risk of collapse. It means the bridge has deteriorated to the point where it needs repair or replacement. Bridges rated poor are typically subject to increased inspection frequency, load restrictions, or both.
Data Sources
Statewide totals (2,542 bridges, 392 poor, 15%, rank #4) are from the ARTBA 2025 Bridge Report, which is based on 2025 FHWA National Bridge Inventory data. Ownership structure and condition trends are from MaineDOT reports and ASCE infrastructure assessments. County-level percentages are from FHWA NBI analysis. Funding and revenue data draws on MECEP (Maine Center for Economic Policy), TRIP, and federal IIJA/BIP program records as cited inline.
Caveats
Bridge inspection practices and rating standards can vary by inspector and agency. The NBI captures a snapshot in time; individual bridge conditions change between inspection cycles. County-level data in this article covers 6 of Maine's 16 counties and may reflect slightly different reporting periods than the statewide ARTBA totals. Maine's lack of county government means ownership data is organized differently than in most states.