A public meeting will be held Wednesday in New Gloucester on a revised plan by the Maine Turnpike Authority to replace the Mayall Road bridge over the Maine Turnpike. The meeting will take place at 6:30 p.m. at the New Gloucester fire station at 381 Intervale Road.

The Maine Turnpike Authority has been consulting with the town of New Gloucester for about two years on how to improve the safety of the curved approaches to the bridge, which is one of only three one-lane bridges over the Maine Turnpike, according to Dan Paradee, spokesman for the Turnpike Authority. At a public meeting in October, the turnpike presented plans to build a new bridge slightly to the north of the existing bridge, which would reduce the radius of the curves, Paradee said.

However, he said, a local landowner was concerned because the plan would take away as much a half an acre of his field. So the turnpike authority “went back to the drawing board,” and is now planning to build the bridge to the south of the current bridge, Paradee said. That plan will also result in safety improvements, he said.

The public meeting also will include discussion of closing of the bridge for some time while construction takes place.

For more information, contact turnpike public affairs spokesman Bruce Pelletier, at 1-800-698-7747, ext. 119 or via e-mail at BPelletier@maineturnpike.com.