On the Move 2012

By Brian SwartzCUSTOM PUBLICATIONS EDITOR

Ron Gastia no longer worries about bigtrucks mingling with pedestrians at Bangorcrosswalks. Brian Parke fields emails andphone calls from happy freight carriers.Brian Souers has seen his transportationcosts somewhat stabilize.

On Thursday, Nov. 17, 2011, Congressapproved a transportation bill that lifted theweight limit on Maine and Vermont inter-states to 100,000 pounds. The vote was lop-sided: 298-121 in the House of Representa-tives and 70-30 in the Senate.

When President Barack Obama signedthe bill on Nov. 18, 2011, “it was almost toogood to be true, somewhat surreal,” saidParke, the Maine Motor Transport Associa-tion president and CEO.

“Why did we wait so long to do this?”asked Souers, who owns of Treeline Inc. inChester. His company harvests and shipslogs, a product typically banned from I-95until last November.

Moving the trucks to the local interstates“improved the safety of our roads and our

residential neighborhoods,” said Gastia, theBangor police chief. The new law “takesthese trucks off our residential streets andrural roads. It reduces the fear for pedestri-ans on our city street.”

“Every day we would hear the trucks”passing the Bangor Police Station, which

opened “just after Christmas” 2006, he said.“Immediately upon … the current law pass-ing, we didn’t notice them any more.

“We didn’t notice the sound. We didn’tnotice the traffic delays” at the adjacentCedar-Main street intersection, Gastia said.“We didn’t notice the log trucks comingthrough here, sometimes two or three units… back to back.”

Until the bill’s passage, 100,000-poundtrucks could use only the Maine Turnpike;federal law barred such trucks from Inter-states 95, 195, 295, and 395. In the Portland

area, the ban pushed heavy trucks (primari-ly fuel trucks) onto Route 1 to reach Mid-coast destinations. North of the turnpike’sExit 113 in Augusta, the ban pushed heavytrucks onto Routes 2, 9, and 201, dependingon the region.

Before the interstate weight limit was lim-ited, large trucks traveled “past schools,playgrounds, through downtowns, throughrailroad crossings, always in close proximityto people and traffic,” he said. “Everybodyrealizes it’s safer to have commercial trucktraffic on the highway. The interstate wasbuilt for heavier weights; many of Maine’ssecondary roads were not.”

According to Parke, raising the weightlimit drew accolades from MMTA members.“The feedback has been exceptionally posi-tive,” he said.

“We hear from members frequently abouthow much more efficient their supply chainhas become by being able to avoid secondaryroads and use the entire interstate system,”Parke said.

According to Souers, Treeline trucks usingthe interstate burn “less fuel due to [less]starting and stopping” and experience lessmechanical “wear and tear.” He cited “lessdriver fatigue” as another benefit, along withlower fuel costs and better deliveries due to“less chance of time variations on [road]trips.”

For Gastia, the issue was public safety. For

2 | BANGOR DAILY NEWS | Thursday | May 17, 2012

Shifting heavy trucks to interstates has improved public safety

BDN PHOTO BY BRIAN SWARTZ

Soon after Congress voted to raise the weight limit to 100,000 pounds on federalinterstates in Maine and Vermont, two southbound six-axle log trucks rolled along

Interstate 95 in Bangor.

Ron Gastia is the Bangor Police Chief.He strongly supported lifting the weight

limit on interstate highways in Maine.

Brian Parke is the president and CEOof the Maine Motor Transport

Association.

See WEIGHT, Page 3

BANGOR DAILY NEWS | Thursday | May 17, 2012 | 3

some years, large trucks surreptitiouslybypassed Bangor, but only until the federalgovernment intervened. “For a very longtime, those five- and six-axle trucks wereactually using [Interstate] 395, so they werebypassing downtown Bangor,” said BangorPolice Chief Ron Gastia.

When notified about possible truck-weight violations on I-395, the U.S. Depart-

ment of Transportation threatened to with-hold federal highway funds if Maine did notban overweight trucks from the highway.

“So the state police began enforcing thetruck weight laws on –395,” Gastia said.“That forced the trucks to take … the desig-nated truck route … through downtown

Bangor and over onto Route 2 or Route 9 orwherever they were going.

“When that happened, we began to see asignificant increase in the number of thesefive- and six-axle trucks in the downtownarea,” he said.

According to Gastia, “to my knowledgenobody ever did an actual count” on howmany large trucks came through Bangorevery day, “but quite frankly we didn’t needto. They were just there, and you couldn’tignore them. It was a very obvious increasein those numbers.”

After large trucks appeared in Bangor, “Isaw that as a significant safety issue, for bothour pedestrians and our vehicular traffic,”he said. “These trucks were operating onsome of our side streets because they weretrying to avoid traffic lights.”

Gastia described how some truckers,while inbound on Hammond Street (Route2), would turn right onto Cedar Street toavoid the Hammond-Union traffic light anda subsequent right turn onto busy UnionStreet. These truckers would “take CedarStreet down over the hill and cut across[Main Street] and hit the Joshua Chamber-lain Bridge,” he said.

“From their perspective, I assumed someof them thought it was a safer way to go

because they didn’t have the traffic lightswhere they were constantly stopping andstarting, particularly in the wintertime,”Gastia said.

“But it created a safety issue for our resi-dential population, because they were cut-ting through our residential neighbor-hoods,” he pointed out. “These trucks,”which “were driving over our crosswalks,”

traveled “on our streets particularly when wehad high snowfalls” and icy, snowbank-nar-rowed streets. Accidents did occur; onetruck rolled over attempting to turn ontoSummer Street, and a pedestrian was runover and killed elsewhere by a large truck.

At the Bangor Police Station, “it was notat all uncommon for us to see two and three

WeightContinued from Page 2


A six-axle fuel truck travels with smaller vehicles on Interstate-95 in Bangor inJanuary 2012.

“Why did we wait so long to do this?”

BRIAN SOUERS, TREELINE INC.

See TRUCKS, Page 7


Unemployment may remainhigh in many job sectors, but notin commercial truck driving.

In fact, aspiring truckers oftenreceive job offers before complet-ing a comprehensive CDL pro-gram at Northeast Technical Insti-tute, according to Career ServicesAdministrator Cory Thibodeau.

“Right now there are 400,000-plus openings for CDLs” nation-wide, he said, referring to the“Commercial Driver’s License”acronym that many in the truckingindustry also equate with “com-mercial trucker.” Companies com-pete for experienced drivers withenviable safety records, and “thenumbers of older drivers who areretiring is going up,” so “this is agood time to begin a career as atruck driver,” he said.

At Northeast Technical Institutein Bangor and Scarborough, aspir-ing truckers receive “intensivehands-on training” while partici-pating in a five-week, 200-hourCDL program, Thibodeau said.“It’s accelerated training. Studentscan come in and in five weeks’ timego for their [CDL] license.”

To accommodate students whowork during the week, a part-timecourse spread across 10 weekendsis offered at NTI in Scarborough.

With their classes running from7 a.m.-5:30 p.m., Monday-Thurs-day, students enrolled in the five-week CDL program initially spend78 hours (two weeks) “in the class-room with our CDL instructors,”Thibodeau said. Among subjectstaught are keeping accurate log

books, truck-driving safety, anddriver professionalism; associatesfrom the Maine Railroad Associa-tion teach students how toapproach and cross railroad cross-ings.

Students also learn how to

develop effective resumes, how tocontact prospective employers,and how to interview effectivelywith them. “Career building is animportant service we offer our stu-dents,” Thibodeau said.

From the classroom, students

shift to an NTI yard and spend 73hours there learning “basic yardmaneuvers, getting in the trucksand doing alley parking,” Thi-bodeau said. By now each studenthas obtained a state permit to trainwith a licensed CDL instructor,

who “assumes every student is notfamiliar with a stick shift,” he said.

At NTI’s Bangor campus, stu-dents train with either RobertDaigle or Michael Francis, the twolicensed CDL instructors. Daigle


Drivers wanted: A strong demand exists for commercial truckers

See DRIVERS, Page 5


At the Northeast Technical Institute’s driver training facility in Hampden, CDL instructor Bob Daigle (left) discusses a pre-trip inspec-tion with Barry Wood of Old Town. Wood had reached the mid-point in the five-week CDL program offered by NTI; “I just started driv-

ing this week,” he said. “I had such a time finding seventh and eighth gears the first few days I was driving.” An Army veteran, Woodsaid that “I’ve been in the lumber business for the last 30 years, and I’ve gotten tired of the physical strain.”

joined NTI nine years; a former militarytrainer, Francis joined the company in 2002.

At NTI’s yard on the Coldbrook Road inHampden, students learn how to steer a bigrig, typically a Kenworth, Mack, or Whitetractor combined with a 40- or 45-foot bigtrailer. “Before going out [to train] on theroad, a student must demonstrate proficien-cy in the yard,” Thibodeau said.

Actual road driving encompasses 23hours and takes students and their instruc-tors on local roads and highways, includingInterstate 95. “They drive different equip-ment,” Thibodeau said, referring to CDLstudents.

“We try to give them exposure to every-thing we can because they never know whatthey’re going to be driving for equipment,”he said.

Students also spend 26 hours in a labora-tory held at the Hampden yard. During thelab, students learn how to perform pre-tripinspections and observe what other studentsand the instructors are doing.

After completing the CDL program, stu-dents can take the state’s comprehensiveCDL test in Bangor; NTI provides the truckand trailer. If a student fails the state-man-dated road test, NTI instructors work withthat student to develop the requisite drivingskills to pass the test.

“We are committed to our students suc-cessfully passing our [CDL] program andbecoming licensed drivers,” Thibodeau said.

A student seeking a hazardous materials(hazmat) endorsement for a CDL must alsopass a separate state test.

Thibodeau indicated that “a typical[CDL] class” has six to 10 students. North-

east Technical Institute does not acceptevery applicant; “our admissions’ criteriamatch our partners’ placement criteria,” hesaid, explaining that NTI has “partneredwith numerous companies throughout theindustry” to “bring recruiters” to Bangorand Scarborough “and speak to the CDLclasses.”

Among the freight carriers collaboratingwith NTI are Central Maine Transport, H.O.Wolding, Schneider National Inc., andWerner Enterprises. As with freight carriersacross the country, these companies review adriver applicant’s criminal history, job histo-ry, health history, and driving record. Differ-ent factors can disqualify a job applicant;similar factors can disqualify applicants for

NTI’s CDL program, too.According to Thibodeau, NTI — which is

“the only nationally accredited truckingschool in Maine” — has no shortage of CDL

program applicants. “A lot of them havewanted to drive the big rigs,” he said. “A lotof guys come here after losing their jobs inthe construction trades or in white-collarjobs.

“They know that pay and benefits aregood at many trucking companies,” Thi-bodeau said. Some freight carriers offer fulltuition reimbursement for NTI graduateswho join those firms and stay with them fora specific time period.

Women currently comprise 5-8 percent ofCDL program students; NTI would like tosee more women train for driving jobs, Thi-bodeau said.

With NTI and its CDL program approvedunder the GI Bill, “more veterans are signingup,” he said. “We tend to get more maturestudents. They’re dead serious about com-pleting the program and getting a job.”

The demand is so strong for CDL driversthat freight carriers contact students beforethey graduate. “The majority of our stu-dents have job offers by the mid-point oftheir classes,” Thibodeau said. In the lastCDL program, “one student had 11 pre-hires (job offers),” he said.

“We’re not only placing entry-level driv-ers; we’re placing experienced drivers,” Thi-bodeau said.


BDN PHOTOS BY BRIAN SWARTZ

Cory Thibodeau is the career services administrator at Northeast Technical Institute, which offers CDL training programs in Bangor and Scarborough.

DriversContinued from Page 4

Headed north in central Maine on a warm May afternoon, two out-of-state truckdrivers “draft” on Interstate-95. Similar to stock-car racing, drafting improves the

aerodynamics and fuel efficiency for the “following” truck.


Thirteen bridges and overpasses betweenExits 1 and 8 on Interstate 295 are receivingextra special attention from the MaineDepartment of Transportation this year.

Dubbed the I-295 Northbound Project,the $7.9-million endeavor entails a compli-cated series of lane/ramp closures along thehighway’s northbound lanes. Unlike thenearby $63 million Veterans MemorialBridge scheduled to open between Portlandand South Portland later this year, the I-295project primarily encompasses bridge reha-bilitation and involves no major new con-struction.

The construction project does not affectsouthbound traffic on I-295. The companyhandling the project is Freeport-based CPMConstructors.

The MDOT split the project into five“work zones.” Because construction will takeplace simultaneously in four zones, theMDOT recommends that motorists headednorth beyond Portland take the MaineTurnpike to Exit 52 and then connect with I-

295’s Exit 11 in Falmouth.Construction details for the five work

zones are:• Work Zone One (Maine Turnpike

Approach Road). Work started in April onthe northbound I-295 overpass crossing theMaine Turnpike Approach Road near the

Maine Mall. The affiliated on- and off-ramps will remain open throughout thespring and summer. The overpass repairsshould be completed “around September 1,”according to MDOT literature.

• Work Zone Two (Westbrook Street).Construction workers started setting upstaging at the northbound Westbrook Street(Route 9) overpass in March. All on- andoff-ramps at Exits 2 and 3 will remain open,

and as in Work Zone One, overpass repairsshould be done by Labor Day weekend.

• Work Zone Three (Fore River Bridge toSt. John Street). This particular part of theproject will affect seven bridges and over-passes and will require on-ramp closuresfrom Congress Street and Park Avenue inPortland.

The affected bridges and overpasses are:• The Fore River Bridge;• The PTRR Overpass;• The Portland Connector/Westbrook

Arterial Overpass;• The Congress Street/Park Avenue Over-

pass (this part of the project shut down theaffiliated on-ramps in late March, but bothshould reopen in July);

• The PTRR Overpass just west of St. JohnStreet;

• The St. John Street Overpass.The MDOT has established detours for

motorists needing to access I-295 north-bound from Congress Street or ParkAvenue. Motorists are urged to use the on-ramps at the Fore River Parkway, ForestAvenue, or Franklin Street.

Motorists using the Fore River Parkwayon-ramp will encounter a temporary trafficsignal that “will help regulate merging traf-fic during peak hours” (3-6 p.m., Monday-


Ambitious project targets 13 bridges, overpasses in Portland area


A moose statue displayed at the Kennebunk North Travel Plaza frames a J.J.Nissen truck northbound on the Maine Turnpike in May 2012.


In May 2012, signs warn motorists northbound on southern portions of the MaineTurnpike to use Exit 52 to avoid traffic delays caused by repairs being done to 13

bridges and overpasses on Interstate-295 in South Portland and Portland.

See I-295, Page 7


five- and six-axle trucks [traveling] back toback … right in front of the police station,”Gastia said.

“The trucks traveling by, they would rattlethe windows in the building. We could hear[the trucks as] they were gearing down”while “coming around this corner and head-ing down over Cedar Street,” he said.

Large trucks queuing at “some of ourintersections” caused “some traffic backups,”especially when only one truck could clear atraffic light, Gastia said. “Now … we’ve got aline of traffic” and “sometimes some veryagitated drivers, because they’re in a hurry,and they can’t make it through the lightbecause the truck is blocking them.”

With the large trucks gone from Bangorstreets, local police officers can “focus more”on other traffic issues,” Gastia said. “We haveenough people who speed … run red lightsor display road rage.”

For companies that operate large trucks,lifting the weight limit has made a differenceas fuel prices rose during the winter. Treelinecustomers “have been able to keep the costof hauling their products more stable thanthey would have been in light of rising fuelprices,” Souers said.

“I personally know of at least one[MMTA] member who called to tell me theywere able to hold steady on their customerpricing due to the improvement in theircomparative transportation costs,” Parkesaid.

“There is obvious fuel-and-equipmentsavings that are being quantified now thatthe more productive trucks are allowed onthe interstate, but we won’t know the extentof these savings for a while,” he said.

“Whatever savings have been realized arebeing chewed up by increases in fuel costs,”Parke said.

“Most of our members who are benefitingfrom” higher weight limits “operate on slimprofit margins, and they are happy to be ableto continue to provide good jobs to theirMaine employees,” he said.

TrucksContinued from Page 3

Venerable bridge comes down this fall

Friday), according to an MDOT pressrelease.

• Work Zone Four (Forest Avenue and Exit6 to Franklin Street and Exit 7). This is theonly part of the I-295 Northbound Projectnot currently under way. Work will start inJuly on the overpasses at Forest Avenue, Pre-ble Street Extension, and Franklin Street;plans call for the work to be completed bylate September.

David Sherlock, manager of the MDOTBridge Program, indicated that Work ZoneThree and Work Zone Four involved theoverall project’s most intensive activity. “Wedecided not to be working on the two biggestsegments of the project at the same time,which will reduce the likelihood of trafficbackups,” he said.

The northbound Exit 6A on-ramp andnorthbound Exit 6B off-ramp will be closedin Work Zone Four. Motorists needing toaccess the highway northbound from ForestAvenue can take a detour on Marginal Wayto Franklin Street and use the Exit 7 north-bound on-ramp.

• Work Zone Five (Washington Avenue

on-ramp).Work started in April on the northbound

on-ramp that carries Washington Avenue(Route 26) onto I-295 just before TukeysBridge. No ramp closures are involved in thisphase, which should be completed by Sept.1.

Although restricted to one lane, the Wash-ington Avenue on-ramp will remain duringthe project.

The highway speed will be reduced to 45miles per hour in all five work zones.Motorists caught speeding will face doubledfines.

The MDOT has set up eight webcamsbetween the Fore River Parkway and midwaybetween Exits 7 and 8. The webcams updateI-285 traffic information in five-minuteincrements.

To access a particular webcam, log ontohttp://maine.gov/mdot/portlandits/map/index.php and click on the appropriate camerasymbol.

“Safety is always our first priority,“ saidJoyce Taylor, who heads the MDOT’s Bureauof Project Development. “We’ve worked veryclosely with our engineers in modeling dif-ferent strategies for preventing accidents andminimizing inconvenience for motorists. Webelieve we have a very workable plan.”

I-295Continued from Page 6The venerable Waldo-Hancock Bridge

will come down this fall and winter as theMaine Department of Transportation final-ly demolishes a span that has become aneyesore in the lower Penobscot Valley.

The MDOT will request bids within thenext several weeks and will budget $7.6 mil-lion to remove the rusting 2,040-foot sus-pension bridge - Maine's first - built to con-nect Hancock County and Waldo Countyand eliminate long upriver drives to crossthe Penobscot River at Bangor and Brewer.Maintenance crews discovered in 2003 thatthe bridge has physically deteriorated pastrehabilitation; a major construction projectsaw the adjacent Penobscot Narrows Bridgebuilt and opened within a few years.

Because osprey and peregrine falcons neston the bridge, actual demolition cannot

start until Oct. 1. Crews will remove thebridge deck and suspension cables by usingbarge-mounted cranes to lower steel to wait-ing barges. The two towers will be the lastbridge components to be torn down; thebridge's steel will be recycled.

Due to high costs and environmental con-cerns, the MDOT will not remove the bridgepiers. Although some people have suggestedcreating a scenic overlook by leaving intactthe bridge deck extending from the Prospectshore to the nearest pier, the MDOT hasopted to take down the Prospect tower topier level.

Plans call for a contractor to place naviga-tional lights on the piers to prevent boatsfrom colliding with them.

The project has a scheduled completiondate of June 2013.


From Stockton Springs to Lower Penob-scot Bay, construction projects slated to takeplace this summer will improve an airport,bridges, and roads.

Motorists will soon encounter a majorconstruction project in Stockton Springs,where a contractor will replace the ChurchStreet overpass across Route 1. According toMDOT Project Manager Stephen Bodge, theexisting 126-foot bridge was built in 1957.

“It’s got some pretty severe cracking andspalling of the concrete, where the concretedeteriorates to the point where it starts tofall off,” Bodge said, explaining why theMDOT will replace the bridge. “Most of thatis on the substructure units, the piers andabutments.

“The deck is in poor condition as well,” hesaid.

The MDOT regularly inspects the bridge;with the spalling, “we don’t want to take anychances over roadways,” Bodge said, refer-ring to concrete possibly falling onto thehighway.

“That’s why we replacing it,” he said.Project bids were opened on March 21.

The apparent low bid of $1,221,997.75 wassubmitted by the Lane Construction Corp.of Cheshire, Conn. “It’s a good price. Ouroriginal estimates were higher than that,”Bodge said.

As for the construction timeline, “we’vebeen talking about a mid-May [start] date,”he said.

The existing bridge has three spans: oneapiece extending from each abutment to thenearest pier and the third extendingbetween the piers. “We’re going to replacethat with a single-span bridge” undergirdedby five steel beams, Bodge said.

Currently “the two piers are on the edgesof the road,” he said. The new bridge, which“will be quite a bit shorter” at 83 feet in

length, “will have two abut-ments on the edge of the road.

“We’re going to use MSEabutments, Mechanically Sta-bilized Earth abutments,”Bodge said. Each abutmentwill be formed from compact-ed gravel, and “the outside ofthat will be faced with con-crete panels,” he explained theMSE concept.

“We’re going to use graveland [geotextile] fabric in theabutments. As the gravelstacks up, it will be compact-ed,” Bodge said.

The construction projectwill not affect Route 1 traffic“except for two times when wetake down the existing bridgeover the road and we place thenew beams over it,” Bodgesaid. The project schedules“two overnight closures for atotal of five nights,” with traf-fic being diverted onto Main

Street in Stockton Springs, he indicated.The contract calls for Church Street to

reopen by Oct. 21 and for the project to becompleted — including landscaping andpaving — by Nov. 21. “We fully expect them[the contractor] to be ahead of that sched-ule,” Bodge said.

Two other Stockton Springs projects mayramp up as the overpass project winds downnext fall. According to MDOT Project Man-ager Sean Smith, these projects involve high-way safety improvements and Safe Routes toSchool bicycle/pedestrian improvements.

“Those two [projects] are hand in hand,”he said.

The highway safety-improvements proj-


Bridge, road projects will improve Midcoast transportation routes


This spring, a contractor will remove the overpass that carries Church Street over Route 1 inStockton Springs. Priced at $1.22 million, the construction project will involve replacing the 55-

year-old, triple-span bridge with an 83-foot single-span bridge. Construction should be completed this fall.

A Massachusetts driver pulls out to pass an oil truck on Interstate 295 in Topsham in early May 2012.

See MIDCOAST, Page 9

ect involves repairing or replacing catchbasins and a closed drainage system alongMain and Church streets. Plans originallycalled for the project to extend 0.67 milesfrom the Main Street-Route 1 intersectionnear Just Barb’s to the Cape Jellison Road.

Costs have since reconfigured the projectso that it stops at the Stockton Springs TownOffice, “which is just short of the Cape Jelli-son Road,” Smith said.

The Main Street drainage system hasreceived “some minor repairs” in the past,and drains running beneath the street “arein relatively good shape,” he said. “It’s thedrainage along the sides [of the street] andthe catch basins that are in terrible shape.We will replace the entire drainage systemon the [sidewalk] side” of Main Street.

The Safe Routes to School projectinvolves rebuilding the sidewalk along MainStreet and along Church Street as far as theRoute 1 overpass project. “The old sidewalkis in various stages of disrepair,” Smith said.

“These projects will go out to bid laterthis fall. We’d like to see some of thedrainage work done this year prior to snow-fall. Then we would finish everything upnext year,” he said.

Smith is also the project manager for aroad project that starts at the intersection ofRoutes 105-220 in Washington and extends0.13 mile north to Old Union Road.

“There’s an old drainage system therecurrently,” Smith said. “It needs to bereplaced. The metal is starting to show itsage.”

Although the existing drainage system “isfunctioning … before too long it will start tocause us problems,” he said. “About eightyears ago, our maintenance folks did someminor maintenance.”

“When you come into the Village ofWashington by the post office, there’s amonument in the middle. We’re startingthere and working back down to the [Medo-mak] river,” Smith said. Currently estimatedto cost between $64,400 and $75,200, theproject will go out to bid soon, possibly inMay, and “we expect to be done this summerin its entirety,” he noted.

The MDOT has scheduled several pavingprojects in interior Knox and Waldo coun-ties. “We’re working from Augusta to Jeffer-

son [for 12.58 miles] on Route 17, and we’vegot a project from Unity to Dixmont onRoute 202,” Smith said. “We’re working on aSearsmont-to-Belmont Route 3 project.”

According to Smith, the MDOT will“shim” some road stretches with “a levelingcourse,” while “in some areas we may grindthe road up and pave another 4 or 5 inchesof new mix over the existing base.

“A lot of what we do now is preventativemaintenance, trying to get rid of the wheelruts and add some structure to the highway,”he explained. “If we don’t try to pave and tryto get the water off the road, it’s going tocontinue to deteriorate.”

Other light paving projects currently inthe planning or bidding stages include:

• Route 73 in Saint George and SouthThomaston;

• Route 141 in Monroe and Swanville;• Route 173 in Lincolnville;• Route 215 in Jefferson;• Route 220 from Route 1 in Waldoboro

to Friendship Village;• The North Palermo Road in Palermo

and Freedom;• The River Road in Cushing;In Rockland, the MDOT plans to build

new pilings and floats and install electricalpedestals at the Rockland Public Landing,which is popular with summer boaters. Theproject’s estimated cost is $94,200 to$110,000.

The MDOT also plans to install new traf-fic lights at the intersection of Park Street(Route 1) and Broadway (Route 1A) inRockland. The project will cost between$119,000 and $138,000.

Out on Penobscot Bay, the MDOT hasscheduled a resurfacing project at the air-port on Matinicus Island. The project’s esti-mated cost range is between $163,300 and

$190,000.And on North Haven, the MDOT plans to

replace a bridge that crosses Pulpit HarborCove on North Haven. The bridge provides

a key connection between the North ShoreRoad and the Middle Road.

This project has been estimated to costabout $500,000.


MidcoastContinued from Page 9


A motorcyclist and a Peterbilt driver share Route 139 in Unity, a major crossroads town in western Waldo County. The MaineDepartment of Transportation plans to pave Route 202 from Unity to Dixmont later this year.

“A lot of what we do now ispreventative maintenance, try-ing to get rid of the wheel ruts

and add some structure...”

SEAN SMITH, MDOT


Insurance lets a commercial truck roll.Before a big rig ever leaves a yard, the

truck, its contents, and driver should beinsured, according to Pat LaVoie, a licensedinsurance agent and the chief operating offi-cer at the Varney Agency. The risks associat-ed with not insuring or underinsuring acommercial truck could financially devas-tate the truck’s owner if an accidentoccurred.

According to LaVoie, insurance require-ments vary widely in commercial trucking.A common carrier or contract carrier willneed “a motor-carrier policy that basicallyhas two parts: liability and physical dam-age,” he said.

• Liability coverage applies to bodilyinjury and property damage that an insuredvehicle causes to someone else. “When youare hauling someone else’s property, you areregulated by the Federal Motor Carrier Safe-ty Administration,” LaVoie said.

“You’re driving on your rights as a truck-er. A whole different set of laws and regula-

tions kicks in,” he said.Liability insurance typically establishes

“one limit per accident,” he said. “A typicallimit would be $1 million” combined forproperty damage and bodily injury causedto others in an accident.

He explained that FMCSA sets liabilitylimit requirements “based on the type ofcargo that is carried.” Such limits couldrange from “a minimum of $750,000 to amaximum of $5 million. Those are typicallythe limits determined on a per trucker basis”by the FMCSA, LaVoie said.

“It’s driven by the degreeof hazard of what you typi-cally haul,” he said. Requiredliability limits for a truckerhauling gasoline would behigher than limits for atrucker hauling potatoes orwood chips, LaVoie cited asexamples.

Under a motor-carrierpolicy, liability insuranceshould cover “non-ownedvehicles and, if needed, hiredvehicles,” he said.

Liability insurance shouldalso cover “non-trucking lia-bility exposure, which is sometimes referredto as ‘bobtail coverage,’” LaVoie said. Thiscoverage would cover a driver taking “apower unit to a repair shop,” for example.

• The “physical damage” coverage provid-ed by a motor-carrier policy would insureagainst collision and comprehensive claims,LaVoie indicated.

“Collision covers physical damage to yourown vehicles involved in a collision.” he said.“Get options on different deductible levels.That can save you money.”

Comprehensive “covers physical damage

for losses other than collisions,” LaVoie said.“Your truck’s in the garage for repairs, andthe garage burns down, and the truck burnswith it. Vandalism to a truck and flood dam-age: These are examples” of physical damagethat would be covered.

LaVoie repeatedly stressed that a com-mercial truck owner “should not assumethat everything is automatically covered” byan insurance policy. Insurers differ in the

types and amounts of coverage that theyoffer; some carriers offer optional coverage.

One optional coverage is called “GAPcoverage,” he said. Such coverage would “paythe difference if the trucker owes the bankmore than” an accident-damaged truck isworth, LaVoie explained. “This is importantto ask your agent about. Truckers often havefairly large loans on their trucks. With GAPcoverage, the insurer would pay the loanbalance if it was greater than the value of thetruck.


Insurance agent discusses the coverages needed by truck owners


Hauling a dry van, an over-the-road tractor stops at the intersection of Routes 9 and 46 in East Eddington on a rainy afternoon in April 2012.

See INSURANCE, Page 12

An eastbound truck eases through a construction siteon Route 2 in New Sharon.


The countdown clock is ticking for two-way-radio users:The Federal Communications Commission has mandatedthat on Jan. 1, 2013, such radios must operate on narrow-band frequencies. Anyone caught using a wideband fre-quency after that date could face hefty fines.

The FCC mandated in December 2004 that two-way-radio frequencies must change from 25 kHz bandwidth to12.5 kHz bandwidth by next New Year’s Day. Because “the[radio] spectrum has gotten crowded over the years,” theFCC wants “to squeeze as many voice-and-data channels foreach frequency,” said Gerry Ouellette, who owns AtlanticCommunications Inc. in Hermon.

Although 7½ years have passed since the FCCmandate, there are still many in the public andprivate sectors who have not made that switch.Many small towns and private businesses are indanger of missing the January 2013 deadline.

Small towns are a major concern, said JohnKingsbury, president of Whitten’s 2-Way Servicein Brewer. Volunteer fire departments, for exam-ple, are already cash-strapped, so the radios are onthe back burner.

“It’s affecting them the most because the budg-ets are limited,” Kingsbury said. “Do they get anew fire truck or do they meet the federal require-ments to upgrade the radios?”

“For some of these fire departments, it’s beendifficult to come up with the funds,” Ouellettesaid.

There are a few exemptions to the narrowband-ing requirement:

• Marine radios, which need to stay consistentwith international regulations;

• CB radios;• Recreational walkie-talkies;• Tone pagers that “receive only” (but not audio pagers

like fire departments use);• Cell phones and cordless phones.Every other device that constitutes a two-way radio must

be converted. Upgrading is not optional, and the FCCreportedly could hit violators with fines of up to $10,000 perincident per day.

Some businessowners either do not know about the FCCmandate or believe that the FCC will not catch violators inMaine.“I had a customer with 40-plus [radios] saying, ‘We’lltake the risk,’” Kingsbury said.

However, FCC investigators will look for violators after

Jan. 1. The FCC has also mandated that repair shops cannotservice 25 kHz radios after that date.

Besides public-safety agencies, every private business thatuses two-way radios must upgrade or replace them andmodify its FCC license. Among such businesses are motorcarriers, construction companies, and logging contractors.

Replacing wideband radios is expensive; “a new radioaverages $400-$600,” and an agency or business that owns atower-mounted repeater could spend $3,000 to $5,000 toreplace it, Ouellette said.

But there is good news. Since 1998, manufacturers haveprimarily produced dual-mode, 25 kHz/12.5kHz radios. “A

lot of customers ended up with radios that can be upgradedeasily” to narrowband, Ouellette said.

Upgrading involves a technician reprogramming a dual-mode radio with a laptop computer and the appropriatesoftware. There is a cost involved, but customers will pay lessto upgrade existing dual-mode radios than purchase newnarrowband radios.

Kingsbury said there has been one pleasant surprise withnarrowbanding.

“We were always told there would be a 20-to-25-percentloss of range when you go to narrowband,” he said. “We’refinding out that that isn’t the case.”

Ninety percent of his customers have seen no rangereduction. The only ones having problems are those whoalready had scratchy coverage. Problems tend to be withportable radios; the solution is to add repeaters to a tower orinstall repeaters in vehicles.

“We’re finding that we’re not losing a lot of coverage,noticeably,” Ouellette said. “The newer radios perform bet-ter.”

Businesses that convert to digital two-way radios — exist-ing dual-mode radios can be analog or digital — will enjoysome benefits not available with analog. “Digital allows youto transfer data,” Ouellette said. “It allows for GPS, vehicle

tracking, Voice Over Internet.“It gives you a level of privacy,” he said, refer-

ring to digital two-way. “We find the range isslightly better.”

Each FCC license that an agency or businesspossesses must be modified to show its compli-ance with the narrowbanding mandate. Licenseupdates can be submitted online or by mail, buteither way, they should be submitted ASAP; theFCC is currently backlogged 90 to 120 days onprocessing license changes.

As latecomers file, that backlog will likelylengthen.

“We have hundreds of customers, and theirlicenses need to be modified,” Ouellette said.

Kingsbury continues to worry about smalltowns that desperately need radio service, butwhich will face bigger problems if they don’tmake the change. He suggests that towns bandtogether to order equipment to share in a quan-tity discount. It may be tough to convince thetaxpayers, but that they’ll understand when theiremergency services are unable to properly com-

municate during a crisis.“Their local fire departments need their support,” he said.Shops that sell and service two-way radios will be busy

this year. “The last three months (of 2012) will be interest-ing for me,” Ouellette said. “I think there’s going to be someconcern whether they (two-way radio owners) can make thedeadline or not.”

To learn more about narrowbanding and its require-ments, log onto www.narrowbandinglaw.com, offered bythe law firm of Shulman Rogers Gandal Pordy & Ecker, P.A.There is no charge to use the Web site, which is an excellentinformation source.

Maine businesses face a Jan. 1, 2013 narrowbanding deadline


On Jan. 1, 2013, all Maine businesses and public-service agencies withtwo-way radios that use 25 kHz (left) will no longer be able to broadcast on

the bandwidth. The 25 kHz radios must be replaced by two-way radios(right) that broadcast on 12.5 kHz.


Insurance requirements are less regulatedfor companies “hauling their own products,”

LaVoie said. “For example, in structuring aninsurance program for a wholesaler, youwould use a Business Auto Policy ratherthan a Motor Carrier Policy, and the insuredand their agent would have more flexibility.

Among the other types of insurance

needed by motor carriers and truck ownersare:

• Cargo insurance. “This applies to yourown goods as well as the goods of others,”LaVoie said. “The key thing to look for inyour policy is exclusions.”

He explained that exclusions “are lists ofthings that your insurance policy does notcover. Examples of common exclusions arecurrency, firearms, and tobacco products.

“You don’t want to find out after a lossthat your insurance doesn’t cover a particu-lar cargo,” LaVoie said.

“Cargo policies are all different. Checkwith your agent to find out what is excluded.If you’re hauling a type of cargo that’s notcovered, you should attempt to get theexclusion eliminated, and if that is not pos-sible, you might have to find another insur-ance carrier for cargo. If you’re a trucker,you want one policy that covers all yourloads.” he said.

LaVoie recommended that in addition towhat types of cargo are excluded, a truckowner should also ask their agent what “per-ils are excluded.” He noted that “wetness ofload” could be an excluded peril; “if thetrailer develops a leak and the cargo getssoaked, you would not be covered if yourcargo policy had this exclusion,” he said.

“These are the kinds of things you want tolook for with the advice of your agent,”LaVoie said.

Motor carriers or truck owners employ-ing others usually have to carry Worker’sCompensation. “You should check withyour agent to find out if you need it,” LaVoiesaid. The fine for not carrying Worker’sCompensation is significant, and if a com-pany does not have such coverage and an

employee “gets injured that is entitled toWorker’s Comp, you and/or your companywill probably be liable to pay the injuredemployee,” he said.

Motor carriers should also carry GeneralLiability, which covers non-motor vehicleliability for bodily injury and property dam-age, and building insurance if the companyowns a building used in its business.

InsuranceContinued from Page 10


Headed to a Kennebec Valley paper mill, a log truck travels south on East FrontStreet in Skowhegan. Trucks and truck cargos must insured to protect owners,

operators, and customers against loss.

“You don’t want to find outafter a loss that your insuance

doesn’t cover a particularcargo.”

PAT LAVOIE, VARNEY AGENCY

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On the Move 2012