An 80-foot-long tube that got stuck in Searsport last week as it began a truck trek to a windmill project in Aroostook County finally got on its way Saturday.

Searsport police Officer Steve Saucier said the tube was loaded onto a new trailer and had left Trundy Road off U.S. Route 1.

About 50 tower sections resembling giant culverts 10 feet in diameter have arrived by ship at Mack Point in Searsport. They are to be put onto flat trailers designed for oversize loads.

The sections are part of the $55 million Mars Hill Wind Farm project being developed by Evergreen Wind Power LLC.

“The trailer was the problem,” Saucier said. The original trailer used was not appropriate for the equipment it was carrying.

A Maine State Police escort was used over the weekend in the transporting the large tube.

Shortly after noon Saturday, the truck was seen moving under escort along Route 202 in Hampden and was near an entrance ramp to Interstate 95.

Telephone calls to Evergreen Wind Power over the weekend were unsuccessful.

On Thursday morning, as the first truck climbed the hill, the lower front portion of the trailer began scraping the road surface, chewing up pavement and spilling the section onto the road. Apparently, the tube was not damaged.