A new weight limit recently imposed on an Old Town bridge means that logging trucks carrying a substantial portion of the wood harvested in Maine have to take a detour that makes the journey to market lengthier and more expensive.
The weight limit has the city calling for the state to install a temporary bridge to accommodate the truck traffic.
The Maine Department of Transportation last month imposed a 30-ton weight limit on the Llewellyn G. Estes Memorial Bridge, which consists of two structures that carry Stillwater Avenue across the Stillwater River.
The bridge is more than 70 years old and considered structurally deficient. It had been slated for replacement as part of a multi-year, $20 million project, but the department rejected all bids for the work in April after they came in at around double the budgeted amount. The bridge’s replacement has now been delayed at least until 2024.
The new weight limit keeps loaded logging trucks from using the span for easy access to I-95. Many of them come from logging operations on the nearby Stud Mill Road, so they’ll instead get to I-95 using Gilman Falls Avenue, which is also Route 43.
The bridge is a major route for forest products in the state, so the city will push the state to erect a temporary bridge, Old Town city manager Bill Mayo said at an Aug. 1 city council meeting.
“There is a tremendous amount of truck traffic on that bridge,” Mayo said. “I think probably the most important thing is that temporary bridge. If we can convince them, or they would consider putting that in, I think it would be very helpful.”
About 100,000 trucks with wood products cross the bridge each year, Mayo said he learned from a meeting with representatives from forest products businesses. The extended trip to the interstate due to the bridge’s new weight limit could add $550,000 in fuel costs, they said.
The bridge over the Stillwater River is likely one of the most significant thoroughfares for timber products in all of Maine, said Shane O’Neill, the forest industry business development manager at the University of Maine’s School of Forest Resources.
Old Town City Council President Tim Folster said about one-third of the state’s harvested wood travels over the bridge, and the city can’t wait until 2025 to have trucks start using a new bridge.
“The posting was very ill-planned,” he said. “We need to keep the pressure. We cannot have a weight-restricted crossing through 2025. They have to do something.”
The state planned to have a temporary bridge installed as part of its initial replacement plans.
Nina Fisher, deputy commissioner of the Maine Department of Transportation, said a temporary bridge will likely remain as part of the first phase of the bridge replacement.
“MaineDOT fully understands and appreciates the importance of this bridge to the city of Old Town, the area and the state,” Fisher said.
The bridge is currently classified as “structurally deficient,” the federal government’s lowest category for bridges in the country.
Structurally deficient is a classification given to a bridge when either its deck, superstructure that supports the deck, substructure, or culvert are in poor condition or worse, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.
The deck of a bridge is the surface that vehicles drive over, which is supported by the superstructure underneath. The substructure holds the bridge above the water.
A May 17 Department of Transportation inspection of the bridge revealed that water was leaking through the northern span’s deck and found that it had lost a large section of concrete.
The inspection also revealed that the bridge’s deck rating had gone from “poor” to “serious” condition.” The bridge’s superstructure and substructure are also in poor condition.
