Maine Department of Transportation Commissioner David Bernhardt decided Aug. 14 to keep the 6,000-pound weight limit on Wiscasset’s Federal Street, an MDOT spokesman and Town Manager Marian Anderson said.

“In discussions with staff, the commissioner has made the decision to maintain the posting at this time,” MDOT Spokesman Ted Talbot said. “As we continue to look at traffic movement along that section of Route 1 in years to come, we will look at the posting and how it does or doesn’t work with the flow of traffic.”

Anderson said she received word on the decision from Jennifer Smith, an outreach coordinator for MDOT. It’s great news, but is not a guarantee that a change will never be made, Anderson said.

“As a community, we appreciate the commissioner being very thoughtful in this process and listening to the residents,” she said. “State and municipal cooperation is paramount.”

Selectmen’s Chairman Ben Rines Jr. said that the board would further discuss matters relating to the weight limit issue.  “But we’re no longer under the gun.

“I had my fingers crossed. I was worried,” Rines said in a telephone interview. “I think it’s a fantastic decision. It’s a good feeling all of a sudden. Whew.”

It was the outcome Historic New England was hoping for, for reasons of safety as well as protecting buildings’ foundations from damage, Historic New England’s Peg Konitzky said. The organization owns the 1807 Nickels-Sortwell House at the corner of Federal Street and Route 1.

“We’re very pleased that they came to this decision,” Konitzky said.

“They did the right thing,” Federal Street resident George Green said. “There shouldn’t be any changes. It was ridiculous to consider.”

Wiscasset selectmen and residents have been talking for months about wanting to keep the four-decade old restriction on the street that has historic properties and two schools. Last spring, selectmen heard from some Newcastle residents who supported removing the 6,000-pound limit in order to ease truck traffic on Sheepscot Road.

The interest from Newcastle prompted the state’s review; the state prefers to keep all roads open to everyone and lifting the limit on Federal Street would be consistent with that view, an MDOT official said in May.

Reached Friday, Newcastle Town Administrator Lynn Maloney said the decision was a little disappointing. “But it’s (the state’s) road and they have to make the decisions on it,” she said.

Neither Maloney nor the Newcastle board of selectmen had taken an official stance on whether or not the weight limit should be removed, but they supported the residents’ efforts to reach out to the state, Maloney said.  As for the state’s plans to continue to look at the posting in the years to come, Maloney said: “We’re glad they’re going to be doing that.”

On Aug. 12, Rines and Vice Chairman Judy Flanagan met with all three Alna selectmen about the weight limit’s possible removal. Alna selectmen reiterated their support for keeping the weight limit. Rines and Flanagan told their Alna counterparts they might seek to meet with Gov. Paul LePage and might ask for Alna to have representation there, as well.

“We’ll keep trying to back you up as much as we can,” Alna Third Selectman Doug Baston said.

Friday evening, Baston said the state’s decision was wise, and surprising. He thought it had looked lately like it was going to go the other way, he said.

In an Aug. 12 letter to MDOT, Rines and Flanagan expressed concern about the prospect of losing the weight limit. It met with MDOT’s standards when the state approved it several years ago, the letter states.

“Our town officials have not been made aware of any recent studies indicating any conditions considered (then) have changed. Therefore, we are asking that MDOT show proof that the reasons for the original weight limit restrictions no longer (exist).

“A proposed change ... will greatly affect our Federal Street residents who live in the heart of our National Historic District, not to mention the numerous safety issues regarding our young people at the Wiscasset Elementary School and the Sheepscot Valley Children’s House. We hope MDOT will consider our concerns when making its decision,” the letter concludes.

Richard and Margaret Zieg of 59 Federal Street also wrote MDOT in a letter the town released publicly on Aug. 13.

“The notion of a heavy, gravel-filled truck attempting to pull out onto (Route) 1 in the middle of Wiscasset Village is a frightening one ..., ” the Ziegs write. “The prospect of a loaded gravel truck driving down the hill and hitting a school bus full of children, a resident going to check their mail, a person walking their dogs, or a cyclist doesn’t bear thinking about.” The Ziegs’ letter asks the state to keep the limit in place.

Wiscasset Superintendent of Schools Heather Wilmot said Aug. 15 that she was very glad the state opted to keep the weight limit. “I believe this decision is in the best interest of the community,” Wilmot states in Saturday’s email response to the Wiscasset Newspaper.

Scott Rollins of MDOT’s planning bureau told selectmen on May 5 that MDOT’s 2002 approval of the weight limit, not Wiscasset’s ordinance on it, had made the limit stick. Since then, MDOT has moved toward the view that all roads should be open to everyone, Rollins said. He said the weight limit on Federal Street was a legally existing, non-conforming rule that MDOT would like to see go away.

“We don’t want to force it down your throat,” Rollins said then about the prospect of making the change.