. 23 M.R.S.A. § 3028 (Supp. 1978), in its form applicable to the instant action, provided in part:

It shall be prima facie evidence that a town or county way established prior to January 1, 1946, and not kept passable for the use of motor vehicles at the expense of the municipality or county for a period of 30 or more consecutive years next prior to January 12, 1976, has been discontinued by abandonment. A presumption of abandonment may be rebutted by evidence that manifests a clear intent by the municipality or county and the public to consider or use the way as if it were a public way.

By reference to 23 M.R.S.A. § 3026, the statute also provides that a way abandoned pursuant to the statute remains subject to a public easement. Gervais argued for a common law abandonment by which all rights to the way would pass to the owners of the land that abutted the centerline of the way. Martin v. Burnham, 631 A.2d 1239, 1240-41 (Me. 1993).