View from a bridge

For starters, the Penobscot Narrows Bridge will replace the charming but deteriorating Waldo-Hancock Bridge built in 1931. What will make the new span special -- even more than its impressive cable-stay design, a first for Maine -- is an observatory that will be perched 420 feet above the river on top of the bridge's west pylon.

The bridge observatory will be the first in the Western Hemisphere and the third in the world, after Slovakia and Thailand. And the 13-by-25-foot standing area will instantly become the tallest occupied structure in the state.

To Maine tourism officials, that will be a view from a bridge worth stopping for.

``I think it's going to be quite the draw," said Tom Doe, 58, the project manager for the Maine Department of Transportation.

When he uttered those words in his laconic Maine way, Doe was leaning against a two-by-four that served as a temporary railing on the cluttered concrete deck of what will become the observatory. More than 40 stories below was the deep blue of the Penobscot, and all around was a stunning 360-degree panorama of pine-covered, hill-studded, mid-coast Maine.

On this day, a slight haze cooked up by unseasonably warm weather obscured some of the distant landmarks. But on a clear day, the sightseers who step out on the glass-enclosed deck will be able to see 100 miles away -- to Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park, the Camden Hills, Mount Katahdin, and to islands past the river's mouth in spectacular Penobscot Bay.

Below them will be an eagle's-eye view of Bucksport, the granite walls of 137-year-old Fort Knox, and the ribbons of cable that flow from two pylons to the bridge's deck below. Even handicapped visitors will be accommodated on an elevator and lift that will whisk tourists to the observatory.

To reach the deck during construction, visitors used a flashlight to climb hundreds of metal stairs inside the pitch-dark pylon. The final two stories were scaled in the open on a wooden ladder. After the observatory is open, the stairs will be used only for emergencies, Doe said.