York Town News
Temporary Passaconaway Bridge replacement to open today
By Jennifer L. Saunders
CAPE NEDDICK - If all goes as planned, the Maine Department of Transportation will open its Maybee Bridge as a temporary replacement to the storm-decimated Passaconaway Bridge this afternoon.That was the word at the Board of Selectmen's meeting on Monday, June 26. The one-lane bridge will be controlled by a traffic light and will serve as a temporary structure until the new replacement bridge design is approved and construction begins - probably in September.
And as that bridge planning process continues, the Board of Selectmen has agreed to ask the Maine Department of Transportation to focus on the natural resources of the Cape Neddick River and on safety needs that require more width for sidewalks rather than on the cheapest design possible to cross the river.
In the meantime, with the Maybee Bridge planned to open today, Wednesday, June 28, York Police Capt. Kevin LeConte presented the board with a new emergency ordinance related to safety.
"It's very narrow. It will be governed by traffic lights to allow one-way traffic only," he said, and there will be no standing, jumping or fishing off the Maybee Bridge.
To those ends, the ordinance will impose $100 for the first offense of pedestrians on the bridge, with additional fines of $200 for subsequent violations.
The goal, LeConte said, is to have the bridge open and functioning by 5 p.m. today.
The ordinance governing pedestrian use of the bridge only applies to the temporary bridge - as resident and town officials alike are going to ask MDOT to be sure the replacement bridge meets the needs of fishermen, pedestrians and the river itself.
Linda Scotland of the Cape Neddick River Association was one of the first to voice concerns at Monday's meeting about the bridge replacement plan.
"What we're being offered now is the cheapest, easiest … thing," she told the selectmen of MDOT's plans for the bridge.
Pointing out that Shore Road in Cape Neddick is listed in the Comprehensive Plan as a scenic vista, and looking at the impact of such a bridge on the river and harbor, she urged the board to take action when the MDOT was set to have its second hearing on the plan Tuesday evening.
"I was shocked that Chief Bracy had to argue for a sidewalk," she said of the first hearing, held earlier this month. "It just shows that DOT doesn't understand how this bridge is being used. … I would hope that the town would have a little more input. … The Cape Neddick River keeps getting punched in every single direction, and this was a chance to really do something good there. … There's got to be some other solution than this big concrete slab that's coming in."
The board agreed the bridge should have a minimum width to support sidewalks for those who use it as a pedestrian way and for fishing, and agreed the town should urge MDOT to come up with a design to remedy the prior bridge's negative environmental impacts on the river and harbor.
Chairman David Marshall and Selectman Torbert Macdonald Jr. confirmed that the former bridge, which was built in the 1930s as a state project, caused changes to the river and harbor that should be remedied, as much as possible with a new design.
