46
CIANBRO THE FIRST 50 YEARS
did a reversal in the army. His superiors saw him as a leader and made him one. Their show of faith turned out to be a big boost for his morale. Chuck’s post-army decision came down on the side of Carl and Bud. They would have the services of this 24-yearold who was itching to get back to the work he loved and to his catbird seat on the TL20 crane.
Chuck, at right, studies plans for a project in York. Cianchette Bros., Inc. was low bidder with $316,025 for three new bridges and about a mile of approaches. Work started January 16, 1957. Others with Chuck are, from left, Phil Woods, state highway engineer and his assistants, Ivan Morrison and Jerry Allen.
Carl and Bud had just taken a contract to build five overpasses on the Maine Turnpike between New Gloucester and Gray. “I started as a time keeper and I was doing errands,” remembers Chuck. “In a short time I was doing other things. I was operating a crane erecting steel and placing concrete, and I was doing layout work with a transit.” Finally Chuck became the job superintendent of the turnpike overpasses. “Carl had been doing it but he got busy with other things. So I just automatically took over. I just did it.” Within a year Chuck started acquiring stock and became a partner. “Lots of time we got stock in lieu of pay. We all had salaries. We worked off a drawing account. Whatever we didn’t draw went into stock so the company could grow.” By the end of the decade, instead of building roads, Carl, Bud, and Chuck’s major focus was on improving Maine’s bridges. The company constructed several new overpasses on I-95 north of Augusta and bridges over the York River in York Harbor, the Sandy River in New Sharon, the Androscoggin in Livermore Falls, and also the I-395 Main
The Messalonskee Bridge on I-95 in Waterville was open to traffic in the early 1960s. However, the job was one of the toughest that the Cianchette brothers ever tackled.
Street overpass in Bangor. By 1960, they had landed their first million dollar contract. Interstate 95 was under construction and Cianchette Bros., Inc. was low bidder, with $l.3 million, on twin structures over the Messalonskee Stream located behind Colby College, a half-mile south of the Main Street exit in Waterville. The 1,021-foot spans to be built were for both the northbound and southbound lanes. It was a major coup for the company. Not only should the dollars roll in, but since Waterville is just 20 miles south of Pittsfield they would be close to home. Their wives and children might even have the pleasure of their company at the dinner table on week nights.