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Route 2 out through Bethel there isn't much of a road. It's a winding two-lane stretch of blacktop that isn't as well maintained as it used to be now that all t
by thrower123 5y ago
Route 2 out through Bethel there isn't much of a road. It's a winding two-lane stretch of blacktop that isn't as well maintained as it used to be now that all the mills in Berlin are gone.
- throwaway0a5e 5y agoI've driven almost all of US2 in Maine at some point or another. A 2-lane road is sufficient for pretty much every industrial venture. If a 2-lane road isn't sufficient then the facility's driveway won't be sufficient either. There isn't that much traffic. There will be dozens of people working there and trucks coming and going. You don't need an upscale suburb to run this kind of facility. Employees won't be put off because the commute isn't 15min or because they can't go to a boutique sandwich shop during lunch break.
- ineedasername 5y agoIf a 2-lane road isn't sufficient then the facility's driveway won't be sufficient either. I'm guessing that their driveway won't be open to public traffic and would be built to withstand constant use by massively heavier trucks than are commonly seen on US2, so I don't think this is an apples-apples comparison.
- throwaway0a5e 5y agoThe local roads already carry plenty of logging traffic that grosses 80k, for highly inclusive values of 80k (lol).
- ineedasername 5y agoIt's not just about weight, it's about density. Spodumene is about twice the weight if fresh cut wood on a ft^3 basis. A truck load of 80k Spodumene is going to be putting it's weight down over a much smaller foot print, and wear & tear on a road doesn't necessarily scale linearly so it's going to wear the roads significantly faster than wood. In my area there are highways where cargo trailers can't drive. The highways they're allowed on require more frequent maintenance. The issue isn't a show-stopper, but you can't just say "it's a two lane highway, that's enough" and "we already have heavy loads on the road, it will be fine". The are more variables to account for when determining the infrastructure necessary for large industrial operations.
- mywittyname 5y agoKentucky is full of mountain roads with questionable maintenance and build quality which are used by coal and mining trucks all the time. They are basically one lane roads too. As long as the "road" is kind of flat and made of something slightly more sturdy than sand, these trucks can get through.
- ineedasername 5y agoI don't think the Kentucky coal mining scene is the ideal comparison here or what we should hold up as the aspirational standard for new initiatives. Especially when you say the roads are poorly maintained, and especially when the Maine road in question isn't just some mountain road, it's the main highway through a significant portion of Maine, and a secondary highway (parallel to I 95) through other parts. What you describe on Kentucky sounds minimally adequate for its own needs and not at all comparable to this situation.
- thrower123 5y agoI bow down to your experience of driving through a few times, over my experience of living in the region for the first twenty-odd years of my life.
- throwaway0a5e 5y agoWhat do you think the odds of someone driving all of US2 in Maine without living there for many years are? It's not like it provides a very direct route between high traffic or popular portions of the state.