After discussion with staff in contact with stakeholders in Wiscasset’s Federal Street weight-limit debate, Maine Department of Transportation Commissioner David Bernhardt released a much-anticipated decision on the street’s 6,000-pound weight limit Friday, Aug. 14.
“The commissioner has made the decision to maintain the posting at this time. As we continue to look at traffic movement along Route 1 in years to come we will look at the posting and how it does or does not work with the flow of traffic,” the memo from the commissioner said.
The decision was reached through internal discussions with staff and after all the options, data, and feedback the weight limit generated were considered, Ted Talbot, a spokesman for the DOT, said.
Wiscasset Board of Selectmen Chair Ben Rines called the decision the biggest one for Wiscasset of the year.
“It was an incredible decision,” he said. Many believed the DOT was going to lift the 6,000-pound weight limit on Federal Street established through a town ordinance in 1973 and upheld by the DOT in 2002.
Federal Street residents and weight-limit supporters organized in response to the pending decision. Legislators were contacted, letters were sent to the DOT, and a petition, which turned out to not be necessary, was in circulation in Wiscasset asking that the weight limit remain.
“Everything we did worked from a political standpoint,” Ed Kavanagh, a Federal Street resident and organizer of the effort to maintain the weight limit, said. “I’m sure it all had an effect.”
Sheepscot village residents and signers of a Sheepscot Road petition, which asked the DOT to lift the weight limit due to heavy truck traffic on Sheepscot Road, had a different reaction. Angelo Pappagallo, speaking on behalf of the signers of the Sheepscot Road petition, said he was, “deeply disturbed and disappointed” by the decision to maintain the Federal Street weight limit.
“It seems that those who complained the loudest last prevailed,” Pappagallo said. Pappagallo was also under the impression the DOT was leaning toward lifting the weight limit due to a Wiscasset selectmen’s meeting in May where a spokesperson stated current DOT policy was to not limit access to state routes.
“The statement the weight limit will be reviewed in years to come leaves very little comfort for the residents in other towns affected by their decision,” Pappagallo said. The Sheepscot Road petition group will continue to meet, he said.
“We do have other options available and we intend to continue pursuing this matter until fairness prevails,” Pappagallo said. Pappagallo declined to comment on what options Sheepscot Road petition signers were going to explore.
Federal Street residents intend to continue to organize as well. Residents who spoke at the Aug. 18 Wiscasset selectmen’s meeting discussed the possibility of the town taking control of Federal Street from Route 1 to West Alna Road.
The suggestion would mean re-routing Route 218 through Sheepscot Road, currently a state aid road. “Some people will like it and some won’t,” a resident said.
Increasing enforcement of the weight limit on Federal Street was also discussed. According to Rines, the current weight limit of 6,000 pounds may be too low to enforce. Selectmen will begin a conversation with the DOT about raising the weight limit and about the future of Federal Street, Rines said.
(J.W. Oliver contributed reporting to this article.)
