Maine DOT Responds to Complaints About State Roads on MDI

After the fatality on Mount Desert Island on Sunday, January 7th, and the complaints about the roads on Facebook, I reached out to the Maine Department of Transportation on Monday morning, to discuss their tactics and response to the conditions of the state roads.

Shawn Davis, the Maine Department of Transportation Resource Manager covering Hancock County, returned my telephone call Monday afternoon. He explained that the State deals with each storm differently, as no two storms are the same. For better than a decade, the State has an "anti-icing" approach applying salt to the roads. He explained that salt loses effectiveness when temperatures drop below 20 degrees and that then they use a blend of salt and calcium chloride.

Yesterday, Sunday, January 7th, the State of Maine was out, applying sand and had a grader scraping ice along with the full complement (4) of trucks applying sand. This was true on Saturday the 6th as well

Today, with the warmer temperatures they are out applying salt to the roads. Additionally, the Transportation Operations Manager, The Transportation Supervisor and Transportation Crew Leader have all been dispatched to Mount Desert Island along with the local crew.