The final phase of closures of !-295 Exit 7 (Franklin Street) for the city’s Back Cove Sewer Separation Project will begin Thursday, May 19, tomorrow. All Exit 7 ramps, northbound and southbound will experience single lane closures during the day time over the next five weeks and complete closure for overnight paving operations tentatively scheduled for the week of June 20. During the overnight paving operation, the intersection of Marginal Way and Franklin Street will be closed in all direcdtions except for allowance of a right turn from Marginal Way onto Franklin Street heading East which is the Metro bus route. Access to Marginal Way will be available through local streets according to a press release issued by the city of Portland yesterday.
Variable message boards and a traffic control plan rerouting motorists will be implemented. Motorists are encouraged to use Congress Street or Cumberland Avenue as detour route around the project area. Motorists should make plans to seek alternate routes during this time.
This project is one of the city’s latest sewer separation projects to prevent combined sewer overflow into Back Cove. The work to reduce overflow is part of the city’s agreement with the US EPA to reduce and eliminate the flow of combned waste being discharged.