GORHAM — A dump truck that exceeded the posted weight limit broke through the planks of a covered wooden bridge connecting Gorham and Windham and fell into the Presumpscot River Friday afternoon, resulting in a difficult retrieval operation but only minor injuries to the driver.

Gorham residents watched from the riverbank and people in kayaks and paddleboards observed from the river as three wreckers worked to recover the truck after it broke through the decking on the Gorham side of Babb’s Bridge shortly before 1 p.m.

The truck exceeded the posted 3-ton weight limit, said Paul Merrill, spokesperson for the Maine Department of Transportation. He said that even in the “best-case scenario,” where only the bridge deck would need to be replaced, the bridge will have to be closed for months for repairs. The one-lane bridge carries roughly 360 vehicles a day.

“This is unfortunate, but it is a prime example of why people need to pay attention when they see a weight limit posted on a bridge, it’s there for a very good reason,” Merrill said.

The Ford F750, owned by a company called The Driveway Guys, was traveling from Gorham to Windham while carrying crushed gravel, the Gorham Police Department said. The crushed gravel likely made the truck “several times the posted weight limit,” Merrill said.

Police identified the driver as 37-year-old Joshua Polewarzyk, of Limington. He was able to remove himself from the truck with minor injuries, police said.

The investigation is ongoing and Gorham police would not say whether Polewarzyk is facing any charges. The Driveway Guys did not return a call or email Friday asking why the truck tried to cross the bridge.

The road was closed while multiple law enforcement agencies were on the scene Friday afternoon trying to recover the truck, which was flipped upside down under the water.

Authorities boarded up the Windham side of the bridge while the DOT used a wrecker to flip over the truck and move it away from the bridge. Down below, two Gorham firemen contained and recovered debris from the river.

After a few hours of situating the dump truck, it was pulled up the hill on the side of the bridge and loaded onto a tow truck.

The bridge, which connects Gorham’s Hurricane Road to Windham’s Covered Bridge Road, was originally built in 1840, the Maine Department of Transportation said. It burned down in 1973 and it reopened three years later after the department built a replica with locally milled lumber.

“Babb’s Bridge is inspected at least every two years,” the DOT said in a statement Friday night. ” The last inspection took place at the end of last month. The weight limit on the bridge was first posted at 3 tons in 1983 and has not changed since then.”

The quiet, wooded area is a hot spot for swimming and recreation in the summer. Children often play with rope swings underneath and around the bridge, neighbors said.

“There’s people who love this bridge, they don’t want to see it go,” Susan Hodgson said. “It’s a great free spot for people to come and use it.”

Hodgson, who lives slightly up the hill on Hurricane Road, said she’s familiar with the screeching of trucks as they turn around before attempting to cross the bridge because of its 10-foot height limit.

The 45-year-old Gorham resident also said many drivers also don’t see the bridge around the blind corner her house sits on.

A LOUD RUMBLE

Hodgson said she heard the dump truck from her house Friday afternoon and assumed it would turn around, but then she heard a loud rumble. Before she walked over to check it out, she said she heard a woman calling 911 and checking in on another woman whose kids were swimming in the river just moments before.

“I think everyone was just kind of shaken up,” Hodgson said.

She said if the DOT rebuilds the bridge, it needs clearer signage on both sides warning drivers of the height, weight and speed limits. The weight limit is posted before drivers turn onto Hurricane Road, but it is not posted on the bridge.

She said that there have been a few accidents since she’s lived on Hurricane Road. A few years ago, she was woken up around midnight by a woman knocking on her door. The woman had driven over the guardrails and into the river, she said.

“I just hope if they rebuild it, they can make it a little bit safer,” Hodgson said.

Tracy Clements, 64, lives on Hurricane Road and said the bridge offers a quick route to Windham.

“It’s irritating because that’s our throughway in,” Clements said. “But the good thing is, (the driver) didn’t get hurt. You’ve got to focus on that piece of it.”

She said she sometimes watches oil trucks cross the bridge when they might be overweight.

“Hopefully, it’ll bring some thoughtfulness to this community that these bridges are just not built for heavy-duty equipment,” she said.

DOT bridge engineers from Augusta will be in Gorham next week to analyze the extent of the damage, Merrill said.

“We know it’s an important site, not only to the whole community but to the state,” Merrill said. “We’re going to evaluate the safety of the structure. There’s a lot of things to consider when we figure out next steps.”