Large Trees To Be Transported On Routes 1A and 3 Beginning Wednesday

Do you travel Route 1A through Ellsworth onto Route 3 to MDI Monday through Friday?  Well, there may be another tree in the way.

According to the Hancock County Sheriffs Department's Facebook page, Atlantic Landscaping will be transporting 7 "large trees" from their location on RTE 1A to the town of Northeast Harbor between Wednesday, tomorrow, and Friday, January 30th.  The tree caravan will have a police escort.

The tree transportation will begin each morning at 6.  The route will begin on 1A, traveling through Ellsworth on Main Street and then onto Route 3 to Mount Desert Island.  The caravan will then take a left onto Route 102 and eventually make it's way to Route 198 in Northeast Harbor.

There's no word as to how big the tree is.  Although, utilities lines like telephone, electric and cable will not have to be lifted higher during transportation.

If you remember, back in June of 2003, Texas grocer Charles Butt had O’Halloran Machinery Transport move a 50-year-old apple tree from Ellsworth to Butt’s Northeast Harbor waterfront estate, causing a tremendous traffic delay pretty much all day.  The tree took up both travel lanes and required telephone, electrical and cable TV crews to ride ahead and lift wires.  Authorities in the area fielded a massive amounts of complaints that day.

This time, the Sheriff's Department is a little more reassuring, saying on their Facebook page, "Recognizing the potential for inconvenience, we have taken the steps necessary to ensure these escorts will not cause an undue hardship during the morning commute. Finally, in an attempt to keep the public current, daily reminders of the escorts, postponements and reschedule's will continue until the last detail has been completed."

We wish everyone, including the trees, a safe journey.