Selectmen say they will try to get a bypass using any means necessary.
By Eileen M. Adams
Staff Writer

RUMFORD – Selectmen agreed Thursday not to let the issue of a Route 2 bypass drop so they will bring it up at the first board meeting of every month.

And the first of those meetings will be Sept. 4.

Officials received a letter this week from Maine Department of Transportation Division 7 director Norm Haggan, denying the town’s request. In that letter, Haggan said that because Mexico doesn’t want the bypass or truck route, and such a route would affect both towns, the request was denied.

Rumford selectmen have maintained that diverting traffic off Route 2 across Veterans Memorial Bridge, to Route 108, then up Falls Hill would increase safety. Much of Route 2 winds through several of Rumford’s narrow, residential streets. Also affected would be Mexico’s downtown business area because Route 2 travels directly through the town.

Mexico’s board is concerned that passenger vehicles would follow large trucks onto a bypass, resulting in a severe impact on the town’s business climate that has recently been growing.

They have set a public hearing on the matter for Sept. 10, and plan to launch a petition drive to keep out the bypass.

Rumford selectmen are just as adamant that they want it.

Selectman Jolene Lovejoy said the board will work out a plan to get the bypass, using whatever means they can, including going above Haggan’s

authority. She said she was disturbed to learn of Mexico Town Manager Joe Derouche’s comment at his town’s board meeting last week that such a route would happen over his dead body.

“That’s what we are trying to prevent,” she said, referring to her safety concerns.

At a Rumford selectmen’s meeting earlier this month, Haggan had said that only one accident has occurred in the past year on the Route 2 section of Rumford that would be affected by a bypass.

Although the town’s plan of action won’t be discussed until September, Lovejoy said a petition drive will likely be part of the town’s strategy. Any Maine resident will be allowed to sign either of the petitions.

Also on Thursday, the board heard the complaints of more than a dozen residents of Swift River Park who want the town to repair their street. The street sometimes pools water because of a lack of a storm water system.

Although a major road building project at the residential area is not in the town’s five-year highway plan, board Chairman Jim Thibodeau said the town manager and a water district representative will assess the situation and come up with a solution. He said some of the residents’ concerns may be addressed before winter.

The board also reappointed Town Manager Robert Welch and Selectman Jim Peterson to the River Valley Growth Council, as well as Selectman Eugene Boivin as an alternate member to that board.

Andy Swift’s bid of $550.13 for a 1972 ladder truck was accepted.

eadams@sunjournal.com

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