WESTBROOK – Construction of the Mountain Division Trail and rail lines will be causing some road closures for the next two weekends in two different parts of the city, according to Public Services Director Tom Eldridge and the Maine Department of Transportation.

Notices from the state indicate there will be two railroad crossings built on Pierce and Bridge streets, and the roads will be closed for two 48-hour periods while the work is being done.

“Residents will be able to get to their homes. It’s just through traffic,” Eldridge said.

The first closure will be this weekend on Pierce Street, from 7 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 19, to 7 a.m. on Sunday, Aug. 21. Local traffic only will be allowed on Pierce from Mayberry Road to Cumberland Street, while the state works on the new railroad crossing just north of Mayberry Road. The state advised Pierce Street residents who live north of the crossing to enter the street from Cumberland or Falmouth streets.

“Currently, truck traffic is prohibited on Pierce Street,” the state notification reads. “It is anticipated that only locals will utilize Pierce Street, therefore no detour routes have been defined.”

The second closure will be on Bridge Street from 7 a.m. Friday, Aug. 26, to 7 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 28. Bridge Street will be closed from Myrtle to Cumberland streets. The state will be working on a crossing on Bridge Street between Myrtle and Falmouth streets. Again, local traffic will be allowed, but traffic passing through will be routed along a detour loop that goes from Myrtle to Brown to Cumberland streets.

The work is part of an ongoing 50-mile recreational path and railway revitalization project which, when finished, will stretch from Portland to Fryeberg. The project will build recreational trails running parallel to new railroad tracks built on abandoned railroad beds.

“They were taken out some years ago when they abandoned the (railroad) line,” Eldridge said.

While some portions of the project are on hold due to a lack of bond money on the state level, construction of the 5.25-mile stretch from Bridge Street in Westbrook to just below the Mallison Falls Road rail overpass in South Windham is still going on as scheduled.

Eldridge said the City Council became aware of the work at one of its meetings in June, but an exact date for the work had not been set. Eldridge said the state has been planning to finish the crossings before the end of the summer. Eldridge said the closures were scheduled to help reduce the impact on traffic.

“That was the idea of it, to have it done on the weekend,” he said.

Any residents with questions may call Eldridge at 854-0660.