AUGUSTA – Maine Department of Transportation Commissioner David Cole will provide three area legislators with a written evaluation of the conditions of sites in Lisbon Falls, New Gloucester and Durham he toured with them this week.

The legislators – Reps. Mike Vaughan, R-Durham, and Sue Austin, R-Gray, and Sen. Lois Snowe-Mello, R-Poland, took Cole and a senior state highway engineer on a tour of dangerous road conditions in their areas hoping to highlight the need for corrective action, according to a statement from the House Republican Office. The inspection was arranged at a time when roads are in bad shape throughout much of the state.

Lisbon and Durham

On the first stop, Cole and highway program manager Jeff Adams were shown the main intersection in Lisbon Falls, where traffic coming from Topsham must wait to turn left from Route 136 onto Routes 125 and 9 to cross the bridge to Durham. Traffic trying to go straight in the direction of Lewiston uses the right-turn lane to pass stopped vehicles on the right. Commissioner Cole noted that the conditions forced drivers to make illegal and unsafe use of the turn lane.

At the second stop, the group checked out the bridge that joins Lisbon Falls and Durham. Rep. Vaughan had previously noticed re-bars protruding from the concrete curbing and the possible effects of decades of corrosion on the bridge’s steel underpinnings. Vaughan said he hoped to impress upon officials the need for an intensive bridge inspection.

The only bridge

“This is the only bridge between Topsham and Lewiston-Auburn,” he said in the statement. “A lot of people use this bridge to go to work, from this area and beyond. The bridge is absolutely critical to the infrastructure in this part of Androscoggin County.”

Next on the itinerary was a section of Route 125 from Soper Road to Quaker Meetinghouse Road. The commissioner told the legislators that this section of road is slated for structural repaving this summer, along with a repaving of Route 9 between Durham and Pownal.

New Gloucester

In New Gloucester, the group toured Route 231, which extends from Route 100 past Pineland to North Yarmouth. The entire section of 231 in New Gloucester and North Yarmouth is scheduled for repaving this summer, the statement said. They also looked at a dangerous railroad crossing on Morse Road, near Dunn Memorial School, which requires a signal cross as an upgrade from the existing stop signs.

Gray

Rep. Austin said the tour also looked at Depot Road and Route 115 into Gray Village.

“These roads have been deteriorating over the years, but this winter has been particularly tough on them,” she said. “I understand that everyone is concerned about the roads they drive, regardless of where they live. This is a statewide problem and a serious safety issue.”

Danger to cars

Rep. Vaughan, a former auto mechanic, said drivers must be aware that hitting potholes can seriously damage a car. “You can actually total your car without putting a scratch on it,” he said. “Sedans with front-wheel drive are at the greatest risk.”

He said potential damage includes smashing the oil pan and losing the crankcase oil, which will cause the engine to seize up. You could also break the aluminum alloy casing of a transaxle, allowing the lubrication fluid to leak out. Other common pothole casualties are suspension ball joints or tie-rod ends, which could incapacitate a vehicle or cause the driver to lose control, he said. Hitting a deep pothole could break an alloy wheel or dent a steel wheel, immediately blowing a tire. And driving on broken-up pavement will very likely damage shocks, springs, struts and tires.

Vaughan said other damage possibilities include tearing off the exhaust system and bending or distorting the vehicle’s uni-body structure when a car “bottoms out,” potentially making it impossible to align. “If the road damage is serious enough,” he said, “it is akin to driving your car at good speed into a field of bowling ball-sized rocks or protruding ledge.”