Katie Langley – Portland Press Herald, Maine
Aug. 24—Maine State Police have issued a citation to the driver of an overweight dump truck that broke through the planks of a covered wooden bridge connecting Gorham and Windham and fell into the Presumpscot River on Friday afternoon.
The truck, which was loaded with crushed gravel, exceeded the 3-ton limit posted on Babb’s Bridge, Department of Transportation spokesperson Paul Merrill said in a statement Friday.
State police spokesperson Shannon Moss confirmed Saturday morning that Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Unit officers cited the driver for a “bridge violation, causing damage to the bridge due to excessive weight.”
Gorham police identified the driver as 37-year-old Joshua Polewarzyk, of Limington. He sustained minor injuries in the crash and was able to remove himself from the vehicle.
The Ford F750 truck — owned by a Biddeford-based company called The Driveway Guys — was traveling from Gorham to Windham when it broke through the Gorham side of the bridge shortly before 1 p.m. Friday.
The Driveway Guys did not return phone calls or emails seeking comment Friday and Saturday.
Merrill said repairs to the bridge would likely take months. In the “best-case scenario,” only the bridge deck would have to be replaced, Merrill said, but it was still unclear whether there was further damage requiring more time-consuming repairs.
“This is unfortunate, but it is a prime example of why people need to pay attention when they see a weight limit posted on a bridge, it’s there for a very good reason,” Merrill told the Press Herald on Friday.
Multiple law enforcement agencies worked Friday afternoon to recover the truck, which had flipped over in the river. The road was closed during the retrieval, and authorities boarded up the Windham side of the bridge.
After a few hours, the dump truck was loaded onto a tow truck.
The one-lane bridge carries about 360 vehicles every day. It connects Gorham’s Hurricane Road to Windham’s Covered Bridge Road.
Originally built in 1840, Babb’s Bridge burned down in 1973 and reopened three years later after the DOT built a replica with locally milled lumber. The weight limit of 3 tons has been posted since 1983.
The wooded area underneath and around the bridge is a hot spot for swimming and recreation in the summer. Multiple community members who frequent the area watched the retrieval operation Friday from the riverbank and on kayaks and paddleboards.
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