The Presumpscot River is visible through a gaping hole in Babb’s Bridge, a covered bridge that spans Gorham and Windham, after a dump truck broke through on Friday afternoon.  Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer

The dump truck that fell through the wooden planks of a covered bridge between Gorham and Windham weighed more than six times the posted weight limit. It will take months for the state to even start repairing the “catastrophic damage.”

Maine State Police confirmed Tuesday that the driver of the Ford F-750 was given a $2,500 citation for attempting to drive the 36,000-pound truck across Babb’s Bridge, which has a 3-ton, or 6,000-pound, weight limit.

Bridge engineers assessed the site Monday and determined the bridge will likely be repaired in the spring, said Paul Merrill, a spokesperson for the Maine Department of Transportation. But what the department still has to decide is whether it will rebuild the wooden structure as-is, or opt for a modern, sturdier replacement.

Historic preservationists want the state to make the repairs quickly, but historically accurate.

Only the wooden bridge deck and beams were damaged by the truck, so the DOT could fix it without calling in a contractor or other support, which Merrill said is “good news.”

But because most modern bridges are steel and concrete, he said, repairing Babb’s Bridge will be a unique process.

If the state chooses to keep the wooden structure, the department will need to consult its environmental office about sourcing the wood, because the lumber will need to match the bridge’s current dimensions and species. Determining the proper procedure, practice and materials for the repair all add months to the project, Merrill said.

And because crews can’t operate in the winter, spring is the earliest the department can get to work, he said.

A DIFFICULT RETRIEVAL

Three wreckers worked for hours Friday afternoon to right the truck, which had flipped upside-down, and bring it up a hill to the side of the bridge, where it was loaded onto a tow truck. With the road closed, neighbors, kayakers and paddleboarders watched the difficult retrieval operation.

Police identified the driver as 37-year-old Joshua Polewarzyk, of Limington. After the truck fell through the bridge Friday afternoon, he was able to climb out and had minor injuries.

The truck is owned by a Biddeford-based company called The Driveway Guys. The company did not answer a phone call Tuesday morning.

Gorham residents said Friday afternoon the bridge is a hot spot for summer recreation such as rope swings and swimming.

Some neighbors have witnessed accidents near the bridge in the past, and suggested if it is rebuilt, it needs clearer signage warning drivers of the height and weight limits. The 3-ton weight limit warning isn’t posted on the bridge itself, but is posted where drivers turn onto Hurricane Road.

But the posted signs have “worked for 40 years,” Merrill said, so the department isn’t considering adding more.

‘IT HAS HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE’

Babb’s Bridge is one of nine remaining covered bridges in Maine, according to Maine’s Office of Tourism.

The one-lane bridge carries roughly 360 vehicles a day. It connects Gorham’s Hurricane Road to Windham’s Covered Bridge Road and was originally built in 1840, according to the Maine Department of Transportation. It burned down in 1973 and reopened three years later after the department built a replica with locally milled lumber.

It was built with traditional techniques, such as fastening the roof system with “treenails” – a type of wooden dowel used in old Maine sailing ships and covered bridges, according to a March 1976 issue of the Lewiston Sun Journal.

The bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972, but because it was completely burned down, the replica is not eligible for the list, said Michael Goebel-Bain, the state’s historic preservation coordinator. A property typically has to be over 50 years old to be considered for the register.

Workers from the Maine Department of Transportation survey the damage and recovery effort after a dump truck broke through Babb’s Bridge, a covered bridge that crosses the Presumpscot River between Gorham and Windham, on Friday afternoon. Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer

Goebel-Bain said he is encouraging the state to repair the bridge in the same way it was built so it “has a good chance” of making the national register in 2026, when the wooden bridge will turn 50.

“I don’t know that (the register) has a lot of significance, but it’s kind of like getting a medal to pin on your chest,” Windham Historical Society member Gary Plummer said. “Frankly, I think most people who know the bridge feel it has historic significance already, even though now it’s only 48 years old.”

Plummer is a self-proclaimed Babb’s Bridge “groupie” and the society’s designated steward of the bridge. He’s familiar with efforts to push the Maine Department of Transportation to repair the bridge to its original glory, he said. And this time is no different.

“Not only do I hope they will, I’m going to insist that they will,” he said.

His love for the bridge started while he was growing up in Windham. He remembers driving through the original bridge with his parents, and how people gathered around it after it burned down, “almost like a funeral.”

When the replica was built in 1976, he was sitting on the town council.

In 2014, the bridge’s roof was riddled with holes cut by people trying to climb the roof to jump off into the river. At first, the state put plywood over the holes, but after officials “got tired” of him calling, they brought in contractors to do a full repair, Plummer said.

These days, Plummer said, he visits the bridge every week to inspect its interior walls for graffiti. If he spots any, he grabs his can of brown stain to cover it up.

He said he now has a good relationship with the DOT. He plans to push for the department to complete the repairs this fall instead of spring of 2025 as Merrill estimated.

“From my perspective, a couple of old carpenters could get in there and repair it in a week or two,” Plummer said. “I understand government, having been involved, it takes time. I’m trying to be patient.”