Caught at the Crossroads

 

 

The propane truck rollover on Route 100 at Gloucester Hill Road on Thursday, July 15. The road was closed for roughly 11 hours while Haz Mat team worked on down loading the propane from the truck to another truck owned by J.P. Noonan.

Traffic was diverted with the closure of Route 100 from Mayall and Morse Roads and Bennett Road. About 100 householders were unable to get to their homes. New Gloucester Fire Department volunteers went door to door telling people to leave their homes within a one mile radius of the
accident.
The truck belonged to J.P Noonan of Baldwin, Maine, driver was Michael
Simpson of Standish and the Ford Escort station wagon was driven by Annetta Weinhardt of New Gloucester. Both drivers got out of their vehicles and were uninjured and refused medical attention.

Ellie Fellers photo.

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Hazardous Materials: County Profiles

From Maine Commodity Flow Study of Hazardous Materials,
July 2002, By Greater Portland Council of Governments

The largest number of hazardous materials facilities is concentrated in Androscoggin, Cumberland and Penobscot Counties. These areas also represent three out of the state's four metropolitan planning areas with the state's highest population and employment areas. The largest quantities of petroleum products enter Maine in Cumberland (Portland), Waldo (Searsport) and Penobscot (Bangor, Brewer) Counties. The largest quantities of inorganic chemicals enter Maine in Somerset (Jackman) County.

Most of the EHS facilities are concentrated in Cumberland County, where there is the,largest number of employers in the state. This is also Maine's most populated County, with 265,612 persons in 2000. The second highest county concentration of EHS facilities is Aroostook County, followed by Penobscot, and York Counties. The counties of Androscoggin, Hancock, Kennebec and Washington all have 25 EHS facilities respectively. The rest of Maine's counties have fewer than 16 EHS facilities each, with the fewest number of EHS facilities in Knox (8) and Piscataquis (8) counties.

Traffic within the Network

The highway network in Maine currently moves millions of people and millions of tons of freight. MDOT estimates that with an average of about 1.5 people per vehicle there are about 13 billion vehicle- miles traveled and 20 billion person- miles traveled on the highway system annually. Maine's arterials represent about 12% of total highway miles, but carry about 60% of the total traffic. Local roads represent about 61% of the total highway miles, but carry a mere 11% of traffic.

Most of the heavy haul trucks travel on principal arterials, minor arterials and major collector roadways. Therefore, it can be assumed that most of the hazardous materials hauled on Maine roadways are primarily traveling over this heavy haul truck route system. Rte 202 extends from Rochester, New Hampshire into Lebanon, Maine. From there it extends northeastward to the manufacturing center of Springvale and Sanford, to Gorham, where it intersects with Rte 25, to Windham, where it intersects with Rte. 302, to Gray, where it crosses and provides access to the Maine Turnpike via Exit 11, to the Lewiston-Auburn area via Auburn, to Augusta where it provides access to I-95 and then bisects the city. From Augusta it turns in a more easterly direction and enters Bangor, where it comes to an end, but connects to I-395 and Rtes 2 and 9, described above.

Cumberland County
I. Overview
Most of the hazardous materials and related facilities are located in the urban areas of Portland, South Portland, Westbrook and Brunswick. This is the largest concentration of facilities in the state. There are numerous chemical manufacturing companies and petroleum distribution and storage facilities.

II. Characteristics
The year 2000 population was 265,612, and total households came to 107,989. Service centers include Portland, South Portland, Westbrook and Brunswick.

III. Transportation Systems
--The heavy haul truck network consists of the Maine Turnpike, I-95, I-295, Routes 1, 4, 9, 22, 25, 26, 35, 113, 114, 115, 202 and 302.
--Rail networks are the Maine Central and the St. Lawrence & Atlantic.
--Pipelines include Portland Pipeline to Montreal; Northern Utilities, and Maritimes
--Northeast natural gas pipelines; and the Portland to Bangor fuel pipeline.
--The major airport is the Portland International Jetport.
--Major points of entry include the Port of Portland and the Maine Turnpike.

IV. Hazardous Materials and Facilities
Total facilities: There are 638 facilities reporting chemicals in 2000, 86 of which are EHS facilities.

Facilities by commodity:
"Other chemicals" is the largest category of hazardous materials (330 facilities, 54%, followed by fuel oil (143, 24%), sulfuric acid (49,
8%), propane (39, 6%) and gas (31, 5%).