On the heels of US Fish and Wildlife ruling that a disputed eagle nest on Davis Island cannot be moved, Edgecomb resident Byron Johnson has drafted an alternate bypass route, which he said could shorten the plan by one half mile.
Johnson, a civil and traffic engineer, made his presentation during a meeting of the Edgecomb Bypass Taskforce July 26.
The plan would modify either the short bridge route (N2a) or the bridge along the railroad route (N2h) to go easterly after crossing the Sheepscot River and rejoin existing Rt. 1 west of the Sherman Marsh Bridge.
If constructed, Johnson argued his plan would save roughly one-half mile in total travel along Rt. 1 relative to N8c, the long bridge route that was shelved in November after the discovery of an eagle’s nest on Davis Island.
Members of the committee, including Edgecomb Selectmen Jack Sarmanian and Stuart Smith, expressed some skepticism in the proposal but agreed it was another “tool in their chest” in the months’ long battle to thwart DOT plans to construct a bypass in the town.
“Anyway this is just a suggestion and I don’t think the DOT has seen it,” Johnson said. “Yes, it’s longer but it’s twice as fast with a minor impact. It moves the route out of the study area.”
Smith said he saw the value in Johnson’s proposal but was concerned over the politics of the issue.
“If we start pushing a different route, might they just go away from the initial plan?” Smith said. “There was a lot of effort by Edgecomb residents for the N8c campaign. I don’t want to get caught up in giving a mixed message. Let’s get our people on board first and then discuss strategy.”
In response, Johnson said of the available choices presented by the DOT, N8c was “easily the best available.” He conceded his plan was preliminary and more analysis would be needed.
In other business, the committee drafted a response to the Regional Director of the US Dept. of Interior, Marvin Moriarity who, in a June 27 letter to Sarmanian, outlined the reasons why the eagle’s nest could not be moved. The letter from the committee was sent to Governor Paul LePage, the DOT, and Maine’s congressional and senatorial delegations respectively. In the letter, the committee reasserted that the number of impacted homes, pegged at 35, would result in an immeasurable loss for affected residents.
“These neighborhoods are established and demonstrate the commitment made to cultivate homes, neighborhoods, schools and community. The real issue at stake is not the number of homes that would be taken, but the loss of quality of life to the whole group, due to the proximity of the highway and the high volume of traffic speeding past,” according to the letter.
The committee also discussed a proposed meeting with DOT Commissioner David Bernhardt and a representative from the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
