CALAIS – The appeal to the state Department of Transportation was simple: Don’t build a bridge that will bypass the city, because it will kill downtown.

More than 100 people attended a public hearing Wednesday night on the issue of where to build a third bridge connecting Calais and St. Stephen, New Brunswick.

When it was over, the DOT representatives had heard an earful.

Most of the people at the hearing wanted the third bridge in the Calais Industrial Park, just north of downtown.

For more than 10 years, there has been discussion of whether the state should construct a third span between the two communities or replace one of the two bridges across the St. Croix River.

The communities are connected by two bridges: the Ferry Point Bridge, which routes traffic through both downtowns, and the Milltown Bridge, about five miles northwest of downtown Calais, which is used mainly by local traffic.

The Calais-St. Stephen crossings are the eighth-busiest along the U.S.-Canadian border.

Truck traffic entering the United States at Calais has increased more than 60 percent in the past 10 years, and on an average summer day, more than 800 trucks and 14,000 automobiles cross the border.

About 70 percent of the crossings occur at the Ferry Point Bridge. Big tractor-trailers, some carrying hazardous materials, lumber along Hog Alley, up a steep hill onto North Street, and travel past schools and homes on their way to Route 9 and points south.

By 2030, the average summer truck traffic is expected to increase to more than 2,000 trucks a day, while automobile crossings probably will number more than 20,000 a day.

Although the St. Stephen and Calais councilors have discussed the possibility of a third bridge or a replacement for the Milltown Bridge for years, until now Calais officials have not been able to agree on where the new bridge should be.

The two border crossings are squeezed into very small areas.

The Ferry Point crossing, which was built in the mid-1930s, is on less than an acre, while the Milltown inspection site, built around the same time, is on a fifth of an acre. DOT believes the new crossing should be constructed on a 10- to 25-acre parcel.

On Wednesday night, residents learned that the state has narrowed the choices of a location to three: the city’s industrial park, which is just a short distance from the Milltown Bridge, or two sites near the intersection of Routes 9 and 1 in Baileyville.

Some Baileyville officials had hoped the bridge would be built at the end of Route 9, but because of a large wetland in that area, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has informed the state that it would not issue a permit.

Baileyville Town Councilor Charlie Towns said he believes a bridge near Route 9 would benefit everyone in Washington County and, by removing truck traffic from Route 1, would make roads safer for local people.

Baileyville Town Council Chairman Doug Jones said Baileyville is not trying to take anything away from Calais. He said he would like to have a trucks-only bridge because he believes it would be safer for everyone. “The chemicals that come across that bridge, not only to the [Georgia-Pacific] mill but to Bangor and beyond, would boggle your mind,” he said.

Several people warned that a bridge outside Calais would create a pass-through that would push tourists out of Washington County.

Eastport City Manager George “Bud” Finch told the state officials that placing a bridge near Route 9 would not only have hurt Calais, but coastal communities located along Route 1 that depend on the tourist trade that travels across the Ferry Point Bridge into Washington County.

Several people told the state officials that a bridge built outside the city would destroy the community.

Former state Sen. Harold Silverman, who said he was speaking on behalf of several Washington County community leaders, noted that DOT’s decision would have an impact on the city’s development. He urged the state to keep the bridge in the city. “We as a community are interested that our economic considerations are put at the highest level,” he said.

The DOT officials said they would take the recommendations they received into consideration. They said they plan to meet with the public again sometime next year.