To the Editor:
We thank David Pope (LCN, Sept. 4, “Since they keep arguing, I need to keep responding”) for his willingness to engage in an exchange of facts and beliefs about the Route 218/Federal Street 6,000 pound weight limit issue.
He referred to a “detour” of “3 minutes of additional travel” caused by the 6,000 lb. limit on Route 218/Federal Street. Then he stated that “our little detour” has “no effect on the number of trucks going through Sheepscot.”
He also disputed our expectation that when the 6,000 lbs. limit is lifted, it will result in a few trucks a day coming down Route 218/Federal Street. To clarify, let us say that by a “few” we mean less than 30 a day, or about four per hour.
Our question to David is: What routes do he and other residents of Route 218/Federal Street think trucks use now when seeking to travel from the Whitefield gravel pits to the Boothbay peninsula? That is, where do the “detoured” trucks go?
One clue is that a substantial percentage of the trucks coming to Route 1 on Sheepscot Road turn right at the intersection. We don’t know how many of the trucks coming down Route 27 to Route 1 turn left at that intersection.
Contrary to David’s point, we think the impact on neighboring towns is a very important consideration.
Since the implementation of the 2005 Maine Department of Transportation policy on state highway restrictions, that impact must be weighed for any request by a municipality for a restriction. We agree with David that any request by Wiscasset to change the current limit should be considered pursuant to that 2005 policy.
David raises the image of fully-loaded trucks “bearing down” on school buses on Route 218/Federal Street at the intersection with Hooper Street.
Respectfully, the speed limit on that stretch is 25 mph and during school hours, it’s reduced to 15 mph. There’s also a yellow flashing light at that intersection. The safety concern is adequately met by speed limits and that light.
We look forward to further discussion and exchanges and appreciate David’s call for innovative solutions. One part of the solution might come sooner if the DOT would survey the truckers and their drivers and ask how often they would use Route 218/Federal Street if and when the 6,000 lb. limit is lifted.
Despite David’s dismissal of the concept of fairness, we believe that fairness is a fundamental tenet of democracy. We submit, again, that it is unfair for Wiscasset and its Route 218/Federal Street residents to force truck traffic away from that street with a weight limit, and onto other routes in Wiscasset and Newcastle, when their legitimate concerns about safety can be met, and are being met by other means.
A similar concept is “sharing,” the importance of which we teach to our children.
Unlike Route 218/Federal Street residents, we are not saying “not in my back (or front) yard.” Instead we say, “Let’s share the truck burden fairly, according to the routes selected by the truckers themselves.”
