DIXFIELD — The Board of Selectmen continued discussion on a section of Route 142 that a resident called “hazardous” for motorists during Monday evening’s selectmen’s meeting at the Ludden Memorial Library.

Resident Freemont Tibbetts approached the board this past year to say recreational vehicles such as ATVs and snowmobiles have been riding along a section of Route 142 that is difficult for oncoming vehicles to see. He gave selectmen copies of a video showing the danger of the practice.

After the Dec. 9 selectmen’s meeting, police Chief Richard Pickett released a statement that said town ordinance prohibits ATVs and dirt bikes registered as ATVs from riding along Main Street from the Mexico town line to the Canton Point Road intersection, and along Weld Street from Main Street to Averill Hill Road.

“A few months back, we had to shut down one of the designated ATV access routes due to a litigation between the two landowners whose land the trail passed through,” Pickett said. “I can understand that people are likely used to using the side of the road on Route 142, but the ATV access route is back up. We want people to know to use that.”

Pickett said that while it was already illegal for recreational vehicles to ride on that particular section of road, he would be increasing the number of patrols in the area.

At a later meeting, Tibbetts again asked the board if a sign could be put up warning drivers that there was an ATV crossing on Route 142.

Pickett said Monday evening that he had spoken to Norm Haggan of the Maine Department of Transportation about placing “signs on both ends of the ATV crossing.”

“Norm told me that they would be calling it a ‘recreational vehicle’ crossing,” Pickett said. “The day after the last selectmen’s meeting, I went in and talked with him about it. I’m not sure when they’ll be done with them, but I’d expect them to be popping up any time now.”

Pickett added that sometime in the future, he would like to revisit the idea of decreasing the speed limit on the “stretch from the Mountain View Campground to Averill Hill Road” from 50 miles per hour to 35 miles per hour.

“That could do nothing but shore up the safety in that area, if you add that to the recreational vehicle signs,” Pickett told the board. “If you folks task me with that, I’m more than willing to do it.”

Chairman Mac Gill said that Pickett could visit MDOT and run the idea past them.

In other business, Public Works director Calvin Beaumier gave a brief update of the Public Works Department to the Board of Selectmen.

Selectman Dana Whittemore asked Beaumier if it would be possible to do snow removal on the sidewalks during a time that didn’t interfere with the school bus schedule in the morning.

“I know there are a lot of factors that go into how you schedule things,” Whittemore said. “It’s one of those things that we can maybe try to avoid, if possible.”

Beaumier said he would look into the issue.

Later in the meeting, Beaumier said that the town had recently placed barricades near the town’s salt pile and limited the use to three buckets per resident.

“We had a lot of trucks recently pulling up to the pile,” Beaumier said. “After Rumford shut down their sand and Mexico placed limits on theirs, ours became ripe for the taking. I’m hoping that the barricades will take care of that.”

Beaumier added that the town’s salt supply was “around 65 percent, which is better than some towns are doing right now,” and that the sand supply was “$500 over-budget.”

mdaigle@sunjournal.com

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