The state, sawing down trees for safety reasons, was not required to inform abutters.

There’s a scar along Freeport’s western edge that faces Interstate 295.

The scar, the result of clear-cut trees, is visible at exits 20, 22 and 24, but elsewhere in town, as well. People living in the Elm Street neighborhood are seeing and hearing the effects of it, and if you take a walk by the holding pond in back of Freeport High School, you can see it there, too.

The scar is the work of the Maine Department of Transportation, which will continue to clear-cut trees along 295 for the rest of the month. The state says it is doing it for safety reasons, so trees won’t block the sun in winter, thereby preventing ice from forming on the road. Another reason is to give drivers better sight distance.

“That section of 295 hasn’t been cleared in a long time,” said John Cannell, a regional Department of Transportation manager. “To get a little more light in, it gives more ice and snow control. That section was pretty much overgrown. We’re not cutting on private lands, and we’re not cutting in wetlands.”

All work is being done between exits 21 and 28 from 8 p.m.-6 a.m. Sunday through Friday. Drew Corp. of Lovell is the contractor.

The state is not required to notify the municipality or landowners when it cuts along interstate highways, so some people in town were surprised when it began a couple of weeks ago. Due to the amount of traffic in that section of 295, crews worked at night, and closed one lane of traffic. The vibration from the heavy wood chippers literally shook some people out of their sleep.

“I have heard from citizens, and they’re saying not to work too early, or too late,” Cannell said. “We’re moving right along and trying to get this done.”

Vanessa Leigh and her family live right next to some of the heavy action. The state has finished cutting along the Pine Street neighborhood, but the Leighs, who moved from up the street to the last home next to the highway a few years ago, are feeling the consequences still.

“We knew when we moved to this home we were right by the highway,” Leigh said last week. “But we at least had some visual closure. And now it’s loud – very, very loud.”

Leigh that that a concrete sound wall, such as the one along 295 in South Portland, might be helpful for people who live along the Freeport stretch of the highway.

“It would be nice if we could get something like that,” she said. “The visuals are unfortunate, but with the sound – we were just starting to open our windows. You can’t talk in our yard much now. My husband and I don’t even try.”

Kathleen Meade and her son, Sebastian, who live on Guptil Avenue just up the street, say noise travels.

“This was a quiet neighborhood until they took those trees away,” Kathleen Meade said. “We never heard the traffic. This is all brand new hearing all this.”

The Meades have lived in the neighborhood for 10 years. They’re not buying the state’s reasoning for clear-cutting the trees.

“Their excuses have been lame – like the need for more safety with deer crossing, and ice,” Kathleen Meade said. “It’s totally lame.”

Meade said she and a neighbor took an early-morning walk with their dogs, and couldn’t hear each other.

“See, it was just woods here, and quiet,” she said, pointing to the highway. “You couldn’t even see the cars.”

Al Presgraves, the town engineer, said he did not see a communication from the state notifying him of the tree cutting and chipping.

“I called them and said I was surprised they were clearing right to the right of way. Don’t you want to leave a buffer?” Presgraves said. “Their response was, well, they’ll think about it. But this way it’s more trees for the tree harvesting company, and that makes the project less expensive. I am unhappy with the way they did it but it is their right of way, and they had the rights.”

Presgraves said that his office, public works and the town manager’s office have fielded several complaints regarding the state’s clear-cutting.

“I believe that the state has been getting complaints, as well, because I told people, ‘This is a state project,’” Presgraves said.

Sebastian Meade, who lives just down the street, looks out across the fence at the clear-cutting that has been done recently along Interstate 295. People in the Pine Street neighborhood say the lack of a tree buffer is causing sight and noise pollution.The aftermath of clear-cutting by the Department of Transportation is clearly visible off I-295’s exit 22, which leads to Mallett Drive. Staff photos by Larry GrardStumps remain after the Department of Transportation cleared trees along Interstate 295 in Freeport, next to Pine Street.Staff photo by Larry Grard