AUGUSTA, Maine — Residents of Glenburn and towns across the state are taking charge when it comes to their roads.
They used a public hearing on LD 1536 in Augusta Wednesday afternoon as a jumping off point to share what's happening on their street.
The bill, being heard in a joint-committee, would address many of the issues with Maine’s abandoned and discontinued roadways, like the Ohio Street extension in Glenburn.
Earlier this week, NEWS CENTER Maine shined a light on the dirt road, which has become so muddy that residents are unable to drive home. Residents either travel by four wheeler, or walk the mile-long stretch.
"No emergency vehicles will come down whatsoever," said Glenburn resident of more than 20 years, Erin Howard. "My grandparents live down that road. That's where we have spent our whole lives."
Officials from the town of Glenburn say it’s a private road, and not maintained by the town.
"The town can't have it both ways," said Glenburn resident Casey Danforth during public comment in Augusta. "They can't expect us to maintain a road for the public to have access to the Kenduskeag stream."
Residents like Howard and Danforth, representing at least a half dozen homes on outer Ohio Street, descended on Augusta to ask the state's legislators for a solution to their street, which looks more like a swamp with each passing day.
"I'm here begging you guys for help," added Danforth.
Testimony from Danforth and others got the attention of at least one lawmaker in the room.
"[The town of Glenburn is] very fortunate that people are paying their taxes, I can tell you that," said Rep. Roger Reed during the hearing.
He shook his head at the photos of cars stuck in the mud on outer Ohio Street from earlier this week.
"Nobody wants to see people treated like that," said Reed. "I don't think anybody wants to treat families that way."
Despite being a former resident of Glenburn for 20 years, Reed wouldn't go so far as to side with the town's current residents. Instead, he advised them to take their issue up with the town.
"It's a mandate on the towns and I'm just not going to go there," said Reed. "The town would have done it, I think, if they thought it was their responsibility."
He believes it's obvious there's been a misunderstanding and the town of Glenburn should get to the bottom of it.
"People riding on four wheelers to get up to the main road so they can get out and go to work," questioned Reed. "There's something wrong with that picture."
It's a picture the residents of outer Ohio Street are living with every day.
LD 1536 would require that towns provide sufficient maintenance to these roads to support the public’s use of them, or relinquish their rights to discontinued and abandoned roads altogether.
"It all goes back, I think, to the way we discontinue roads and public easements and that problem keeps coming back and coming back to us in this legislature and we don't seem to have a handle on it well enough to alleviate the problem," said Reed.
The bill moved on from Wednesday's public hearing and will next be heard in a joint-committee work session.