FRANKLIN COUNTY, Maine — A small wooden footbridge forms the only direct link between the towns of Rangeley and Stratton, after a section of Route 16 washed out in Monday’s storm.
"We really are stuck, we’re in our own little island over here," Jennifer Kent said. She had to use two different cars—each on opposing ends of the footbridge—to buy her groceries.
"I drive to the other side of the bridge, walk over and hop into my son's car and go to town to get our groceries," she explained.
Kent is not alone in this arrangement of necessity. Impromptu parking lots have sprung up on either side of the natural roadblock, many of them full of cars left by their drivers to cross the bridge on foot for everything from groceries, to work.
"Unless you have two vehicles, there's no way to get back and forth to work. So, we have to drive… one around," Michael Deus, who owns a motel on one side of the footbridge, and lives on the other, said.
Without a ride on either side of this rural stretch of road, options are limited to a roundabout back route through the towns of Phillips and Kingfield—more than an hour of extra driving. This game of logistical checkers has drastically changed Deus’ daily schedule.
"I’m a little more selective on days that I go to work," Deus said. "I’m fortunate to do that. Most people can't."
But within this juggernaut of inconvenience hiding not too far from the surface, is a good-humored Maine attitude towards these unique circumstances.
"All in all, we’re safe, we’re happy, we’re pioneering," Pete Dudman said with a laugh as he carried a load of goods over the foot bridge—which was erected by volunteers—to his relative’s car on the other side.
Kent added, "Small towns are amazing… they just come together."
The Maine Department of Transportation estimates it will take between four and six weeks to repair the washed out section of road.