Toby Pineo, left, an operations manager for Irving Forest Products, and John Cole, manager of the Dixfield sawmill, address selectmen and residents Aug. 17 on plans to eliminate hundreds of logging trucks driving through the residential neighborhood on 3rd Street. Bruce Farrin/Rumford Falls Times
DIXFIELD — Representatives of Irving Forest Products said the company has applied for a state permit to allow hundreds of trucks to exit its sawmill onto Weld Street, not through the residential neighborhood on 3rd Street.
Randy Hotham said he’s been trying for 10 years to get the trucks off his street.
“It’s not the place for trucks, in my opinion,” he told mill representatives at a recent selectmen meeting.
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Trucks enter the mill on Hall Hill Road and leave via 3rd Street, spreading mud all along the neighborhood street. The two roadways run parallel to one another and both connect directly to Route 2.
“Our goal is to look at 3rd Street on a weekly basis and clean it up as required,” mill Manager John Cole said. “We did get a brand new sweeper that mounts on our loader, and we’ve used it a number of times on 3rd Street throughout the summer.”
Cole said 475 trucks come through that site at 24 Hall Hill Road each week. On a typical week, there are 250 logging trucks, about 100 lumber trucks, 45 chip trucks, 25 bark trucks, 25 sawdust trucks, 20 shavings trucks and about 10 trucks with biomass for the boilers coming in and out of the property.
The primary reason for using 3rd Street, he said, is the safety of over 200 employees.
“There’s some tight quarters in the flow of traffic that goes through that sawmill,” Cole said. “We’ve got well marked out pedestrian corridors, as well, to keep the employees safe, and the safest route for those log trucks is to come in, drop the logs off, and then come out 3rd Street.”
Board Chairwoman Norine Clarke asked if trucks could be rerouted off 3rd Street.
“For safety sake, there’s basically a one-way road through the sawmill,” Cole said. “The alternative to a 3rd Street exit, and this is one that we’re talking with our corporate offices to make sure if they agree with the flow of traffic, but we’re looking at coming out on Weld Street by the old funeral home site. It’s a little bit wider street, not as tight quarters as 3rd Street.”
Weld Street/Route 142 lies west of and parallel to 3rd Street. It also connects directly to Route 2.
Randy Hotham tells Irving Forest Products officials at a selectmen meeting Aug. 17 that he’s been trying for 10 years to get the sawmill’s logging trucks off his neighborhood street in Dixfield. Bruce Farrin/Rumford Falls Times
Toby Pineo, operations manager for the mill’s Pine Division, explained that the planer mill the company built this year is connected to existing buildings and required operating the old mill at the same time, creating a worse bottleneck for log trucks than before.
He said there are two problems to be addressed.
“One is reducing mud on 3rd Street and one is not using 3rd St.,” he said. “We can work on both of them, but can control one of them.”
He said the company has applied to the state for a permit to exit trucks onto Weld Street.
“We think it makes sense,” Pineo said. “We’ve got to get approval, and it’s going to cost some money. We’re pushing for it.”
He said company officials are also looking to raise the elevation of the log yard to eliminate the water and resulting mud.
“We’re not going to get it paved, but hopefully to make it better,” he said. “We hope to do that before winter.”
Hotham said, “I would think reducing mud and keeping the street clean would be the short-term goal, and the long-term goal is to stop using it.”
“We do want to be good neighbors,” Cole said.
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