By Tim Badgley
A Maine Department of Transportation road crew is currently working to improve public safety after large sections of ledge fell onto the shoulder of the Newcastle southbound
on-ramp to U.S. Route 1.
Sheared off ledge lies near the Route 1 southbound on-ramp in Newcastle (Tim Badgely photo) |
Sometime in the last two weeks, the sections broke off from a small rock face, created when the on-ramp was constructed.
On April 17, Maine DOT crews arrived to begin the first phase of making the road safe from falling rock.
DOT crew members work to remove vegetation atop ledge roadside in Newcastle. (Tim Badgley photo) |
According to DOT supervisor Mark Davis, the project involves removing trees and undergrowth atop the 15- to 20-foot-high wall of ledge bordering the road.
“It’s a safety thing,” Davis said. “We’re going to cut back all the trees 10 feet, and then we’ll bring all the loose stuff down so we don’t have a danger there.”
According to Davis, the ledge first broke off and fell within inches of the edge of the road pavement three weeks ago. “We had a sign made up then,” he said, to warn drivers of
the potential hazard of falling rock.
This is just one type of the winter’s end cleanup projects Davis oversees this time of year, he said.
The work for the next few days will be the removal of trees and any loose material sitting on top of the ledge wall going back 10 feet. Davis expects that it will take two days
to clear away all the vegetation.
“Then we’ll come in here and bust up the rock and haul it away,” Davis said. He will not oversee that phase of the operation. “I’m not sure if we’ll use a ram, or an excavator,
or both to knock down the rock,” he said.
Whatever method used, Davis said the objective is to get rid of the danger of the loose ledge from falling onto the roadway. Davis expects that the rock removal will not begin
until sometime next week. The work will take one to two weeks.
“We’re working to make this road safe,” Davis said. The objective of Maine DOT is, as Davis put it, “to eliminate this danger.”
