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MDOT proposes going to three lanes along Wilton Road

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The MDOT is proposing going from a four-lane highway to two travel lanes plus a turn-only lane for approximately 3 miles of the Wilton Road.
The MDOT is proposing going from a four-lane highway to two travel lanes plus a turn-only lane for approximately 3 miles of the Wilton Road.

FARMINGTON – A Maine Department of Transportation proposal to go from four travel lanes to two travel lanes and a turning lane for approximately 3 miles of the Wilton Road will be discussed at a meeting scheduled for March 17. The public is welcome to attend and provide input.

The meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 17 at the Farmington Community Center, with MDOT officials presenting the findings of a traffic study and maps detailing the proposed pattern change. The proposal was previously brought before the town’s Transportation Advisory Committee last week.

MDOT is focusing on 2.83 miles of the Wilton Road, stretching between Franklin Memorial Hospital to Oakes Street, near Center Bridge. In an effort to reduce the number of crashes along the road, MDOT is proposing going from four lanes to three, with the central lane designated as turn-only for both north- and southbound traffic.

Concerns with traffic safety led to MDOT conducting a safety study, which tracked the number of collisions over a 3-year period. In making their recommendation, MDOT officials told the Transportation Advisory Committee Thursday evening, the department weighed the additional “mobility user” cost associated with slowing traffic along the 2.83 miles of highway against the “safety user” cost associated with hundreds of crashes between 2011 and 2013.

MDOT tracked a total of 158 crashes along that section, with 36 of them occurring in the five-lane section between Walmart and the hospital and the remainder occurring between Walmart and Bridge Street. Typical collisions included rear-end crashes due to vehicles stopping in a travel lane to turn, vehicles changing lanes and vehicles colliding while traveling at different speeds. So called “angle crashes,” caused by vehicles attempting to cross four lanes at intersections or turning left across two lanes, were also common.

A total of 59 injuries resulted from crashes within the four-lane section of the study. Slightly more than half of crashes within that section were at driveways, with slightly less than half of the total injuries caused by collisions. MDOT calculated that the total costs associated with injuries was $2.69 million over the 3-year period, with 44 percent of that cost incurred in driveway crashes.

The MDOT’s mobility cost is calculated by developing a baseline travel time for vehicles passing through the impacted portion of the Wilton Road, then using that baseline to project how much the reduction in the number of travel lanes would affect motorists. MDOT counted an average of 15,000 to 17,000 motorists utilizing at least part of that 3-mile section daily, varying due to motorists turning off or on the Wilton Road at various points.

MDOT’s study indicates that the average motorist would travel 2 mph slower between Bridge Street and the hospital, a 20-second increase in travel time. Utilizing the traffic count, the speed differential and the MDOT’s mobility user costs of $10 per hour for vehicles and $39 per hour for commercial trucks, MDOT says that the total additional cost associated with the change would be $101,700 annually.

That figure is then applied against the money MDOT projects will be saved through a reduction in the number of crashes. The MDOT provided calculations which assume a 19 percent, a 29 percent and a 47 percent reduction in the number of collisions; the 29 percent reduction would yield a safety savings of $260,100 annually. After subtracting the mobility cost for the slightly slower-moving traffic, MDOT is calculating the net annual user benefit at $158,400 annually.

The road could be modified as part of a $2.9 million road construction project scheduled for 2016 or 2017.

The MDOT calculations and maps showing the proposed alterations will be presented at the March 17 meeting.

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54 Comments

  1. How will I be able to pass those folks that are driving ten miles an hour under the speed limit?? Those folks are not traveling to work. They are dressed in their pajamas and on their way to a local covenience store to buy some scratch tickets. Keep it four lanes or limit scratch tickets sales to certain hours of the day…or better yet no scratch tickets sales to folk who are still wearing their nightgowns

  2. I for one am in favor of this change, I travel this road daily and sometimes wish I had an alternate route as this road is very dangerous at certain times of the day, hopefully this change will make people slow down especially the truckers.

  3. TERRIBLE IDEA!!!! With all the heavy trucks traveling that route, fully loaded in both directions, it will not take long for the traffic to be backed up for miles as the trucks get up to speed. By then they will have to contend with the next traffic light, adding to the slow down. Need a “turn lane”? Widen the road to accommodate 5 lanes.
    E.Z.

  4. Great idea and It’s about time. And have the sidewalks on the inside of the telephone poles(if possible).

  5. Typical collisions included rear-end crashes due to vehicles stopping in a travel lane to turn,

    This is hilarious…
    The collisions are caused by idiots driving straight into things “because they are not paying attention to what’s in front of them”.
    Its NOT the fault of the stopped vehicle…. “””HELLO”””.

    Distracted driving or empty headedness… “Can’t touch this” .

  6. I hope these new changes will make the traffic flow a lot smoother than it does now. The way it is set up at this time, ( heading towards Livermore Falls), if your in the right lane, you have to attempt to merge with the left lane…and most people won’t let you in! The “lane ends” sign should be BEFORE the red light…not after as it is now! I can’t tell you how many near misses I have seen with people trying to outrace each other when they suddenly see the ‘lane ends’ sign! Tractor trailers ( those who haven’t been there before anyway) will tend to stay to the right to let faster traffic go…then suddenly..OOPS..lane ends…where do I go??
    Hopefully this will be better…

  7. This is a good plan for a scary stretch of road– and a great plan to increase safety for cyclists too.

  8. Finally! I suggested this over 10 years ago when 150 accidents were reported annually on that stretch of road. It works really well in other bigger towns, such as Brewer and Falmouth. This would allow for a shoulder for bicycles and a right hand turn lane. You may not get there faster but you will get there safer!

  9. No mention is made of the fact that this plan would also result in the creation of much needed breakdown lanes. I am not a road design engineer but right from the very beginning I could not understand why MDOT designed this stretch of road without providing these. Pedestrians take their life in their hands when they try to walk this stretch and when police pull someone over they often end up blocking a travel lane. If for no other reason than the creation of breakdown lanes this seems like a good idea.

  10. I feel a right turn only lane for hannafords would solve a lot of problems same for the hospital and walmart. I don’t feel changing to one lane both ways is going to solve anything but traffic conjestion, people in the center turning lane would be waiting forever to turn. Traffic trying to get back onto the road from business’ would also be a long wait and how about the emergency vehicle’s

  11. Fight this bad idea. Remember the bad old days lined up single file in traffic on this road, creeping along. They did this on Rt. 4 just north of Auburn, wasting half of the pavement while frustrated traffic continued to creep along in that dreadful highway. If left turn lanes are needed for safety and to keep traffic moving, make turning lanes in strategic locations and widen the two lanes at these selected points. There is space to do this.

  12. I can’t wait to sit at the light 40 cars deep. All four lanes are pretty busy as it is now. I say we go with one lane like at a construction site with a single traffic light at each end so those people who don’t know how to merge with traffic won’t have to worry anymore.

  13. I like the idea of the turning lane and the breakdown lane, but there is so much traffic in that stretch most times that it seems like going back to one lane in either direction is going to cause its own set of issues. There’s much more traffic then “back in the day”. It seems like this may help some problems and aggravate others, so in the long run, it may not actually be better. I do agree that something needs to be done. I’m just not sure that this is the answer.

  14. I really think we would be much better off if the road was widened and accommodated 2 travel lanes on each side as it is, plus a center turning lane. There is too much traffic on this road to bring it back down to 1 travel lane on each side.

  15. I agree with Erica. This road was widened to 4 lanes because of increased traffic congestion. Has the traffic flow decreased so much to warrant regressing back to 2 lanes?? I don’t think so! Adding a center turn lane from Whittier Rd to the Walmart lights would be the safest solution.

  16. And I can’t imagine the problems the ambulances will have getting through the highly congested single lane roadway. They have a hard time now as it is.

  17. I am really looking forward to this change. I hope the people who travel this strecth of road will realize that safety is more important than a bit of time travelled. I drive this road quite frequently and see the trouble of cars turning left.
    Also, the truck lane after Hannaford will be excellent! Thank you MEDOT for coming up with a safe option!!!

  18. Welcome to the State of Mass. Just change the speed limit. 30mph is fine and would save lots of money. Does the State of Maine, pay your ins? Does the State of Maine pay to repair your vehicle? Then how is it saving the State money?

  19. That seems like a good idea, but traffic through there will become even more terrible, and what about the major junction to Jay, and Wilton, they will have to redesign that to because it designed for a 4 lane road.

  20. Yes let’s take 15,000 to 17,000 cars and put them all into one lane. Missing stat. How many cars/Trucks travel through? I do at least 4 times a week. By all means, let’s put them all into one lane, that is sure to solve the problem.. The only answer is widen to 5 lanes plus a walking/bike lane.

    “MDOT’s study indicates that the average motorist would travel 2 mph slower between Bridge Street and the hospital,”

    What genius came up with that figure? Probably the same one that designed the new small sized round-about’s springing up all over the state. What world does he/she live in? Not Farmington.

    Trucks West bound turning into Irving’s have to nearly come to a stop to make the turn. This new proposal will sure help that. And by the way, how about coming out of Irving’s, that will be a joy in it’s self.

    The police are quick to haul over speeders. I wish they spent as much time on slowpokes.

  21. Still……one question….does the State of Maine pay your car repairs after an accident?

    HOW does the State save? If so, I need reimbursement.

    To those people who have had a MVA, try and get the STATE to pay damages!

    Would someone explain how the State benefits? Drivers might. But the State?

    Do we have MVAs? YES!

  22. Instead of giving so much weight to money and
    Minutes saved or spent, safety should be the deciding
    factor in this. I travel this stretch of road regularly, and
    it seems to me it’s not the “slowpokes” but the ones who
    want to drive 55mph in a 40mph zone, and then want to
    switch lanes at that speed to get out from behind someone
    turning into a business or driveway. And the overloaded pulp
    trucks, who want to sail through like they’re on I95 and weave back
    and forth between lanes and drive w/ their tires 6 inches in your
    lane!
    If you’re worried about “losing” a few minutes in your commute,
    just try giving yourself more time…perhaps that would be
    preferable to losing your life.

  23. I think changing to 3 lanes will create a boat load of problems, some of them foreseeable, others not. The real problem here is too many poor/distracted/looking at their cell phones? drivers. Simply PAY ATTENTION! It doesn’t cost you anything and it may save you a lot. I never knew I was putting my life in such jeopardy by driving “such a dangerous stretch” of road.

  24. Gadzooks! A rolling 30mph traffic jam with logging trucks. What could possibly go wrong?

  25. I know steel is more expensive than paint. Why not just run guard rails down the middle of the four lanes. Then add your reverse direction areas at the current stop lights and create a few new where they are needed. ( Additional traffic lights Mt Blue High turn, Irving Truck Stop)

  26. Horrible plan. I first saw this on here early this AM at 5:30. It takes about 20 minutes to get to hospital on good days from near North Street. WIDEN the road, and put in turning lanes. If you must go slow, travel in the slow lane on the right. Plan can not work from my perspective.

  27. This road needs to be 5 lanes, 2 travel lanes in each direction with a left turn lane in the middle. As far as the breakdown lane goes. It is not necessary. There are plenty of parking lots for people to pull off the road at and that also goes for people that are getting pulled over by the police. Instead of stopping in the middle of a lane on RT. 4 just pull over into the 1st business driveway/parking lot. I am sure the police officers won’t mind if you pull off the road because it will make the road safer for cars not having to avoid the pulled over vehicle and police car and it will make the officers job a lot safer so he doesn’t have to get out in traffic and risk getting hit and injured or killed. When it comes to people walking/riding bikes on the road. Yes, there should be a sidewalk on one side of RT. 4 all the way to Walmart/Mt. Blue Shopping Center. The town has 2 sidewalk plows/snowblowers so they could split routes to maintain the additional sidewalk.

  28. I can’t believe they would even consider this! They widened this piece of road to four lanes 35 years a go because of traffic congestion and now they want to go back. I agree they need 5 lanes on this stretch of road.
    Perhaps they could try this in Ogunquit first on Rt. 1 and move some money to Farmington to fix our road the correct way, not the cheap way.

  29. 15000 to 17000 vehicles squeezed into two lanes ? What? Try entering the roadway from any of the businesses along the section, especially when you need to across one lane to go in the opposite direction. Isn’t that why they went to 4 lanes in the first place? 4 travel lanes, a turn lane, and a bike lane is the way to go. A few more speeding tickets might help to slow people down.

  30. Adding another lane is the best option for sure. However, I will take a turning lane over 4 lanes any day of the week or time of day. It is so stressful to just sit there while waiting to turn hoping no one slams into the back of you.
    AL

  31. Way too many trucks and stoplights for this make sense. I drive this every day at 5 o’clock. What a pain in the arse it will be.

  32. I wish they’d re-mark the approach to the old Rite Aid building. As it is now, if you’re planning to drive to the movie theatre from Hannaford, you have to get over into the right-hand lane, then get back over into the left-hand lane either on or right after the bridge. I’m not sure why that lane can’t be a “left or straight” lane as it always was. The lane still continues, but there is (theoretically) nobody on it.

  33. Some of us remember. 40 years ago ,in anticipation of the current situation, MDOT proposed construction a bypass from “Ledge Corner” on the Town Farm Road to just beyond the hospital. At that time, most of the business on that particular stretch of Routes 2 & 4 were small and family owned.The businesses and residents of Farmington opposed this proposal, as it would be detrimental to them financially. Perhaps now is the time for a modification to the old MDOT plan. For west bound traffic, how about building a new road beginning at the traffic signal at Hannaford that goes behind all of the businesses over to the hospital signal. Provide access to the businesses from the new road and a bypass for those folks that want to travel non-stop straight west. West bound on Routes 2 & 4, close all exits. In the east bound lanes allow only right hand turns (center guard rails) for access to the businesses on the south side of Routes 2 & 4.

  34. I’m trying to guess how long one might sit in a turn lane(perhaps facing another car going in the opposite direction in that turn space) waiting for enough of a break in traffic to actually turn . I think that whole idea is ludicrous.

  35. Amazing to think these engineers are getting paid for this proposal. Have they driven the road? Should have been 5 lanes when they last configured it. Reducing to 3 lanes and bike lines, I would not dare to ride a bike there.

  36. 2 years ago January on a clear winter afternoon with dry roads I was stopped in my Jeep with my turn signal on waiting to turn left into Palmer Realty when I was rear-ended by an inattentive driver. The collision drove me into oncoming traffic totaling my Jeep and doing heavy damage to both the car that rear-ended me as well as the pickup I was slammed into.

    Would a center turning lane have prevented that accident from happening? Perhaps. But this proposal is flawed.

    In my case, as well as others according to the article it involves people not paying attention. Changing the number of lanes won’t fix that and may in fact lead to more inattentiveness as drivers fiddle with their phones or radios passing the time as traffic grinds to a halt during the busiest parts of the day as many have suggested.

    If you’re not convinced that traffic will back up try visiting Skowhegan in the afternoon when the line of cars leading to the light on the south side of the river backs up over the hill dozens of cars deep.

    Another item that jumped out at me in the article is the math doesn’t prove out the need for the change. According to what the article states there were 122 accidents in the 2.53 stretch of 4 lanes wide equalling about 48 accidents per mile. Meanwhile in the existing 0.3 mile long stretch of 5 lanes wide between the lights at Walmart and the hospital the ratio shoots UP to 120 per mile yet it’s in the flattest and straightest stretch of the entire 2.83 mile long study? In other words, when a turning lane is in place accidents increase. At least according to these stats.

  37. Has the MDOT studied what will happen when Dollar General and the new ice ream places open up this spring?

  38. If you can’t teach responsibility, impose restrictions. I won’t disrupt the flow of traffic to turn out of courtesy for other drivers and concern for my safety. Instead, if there is oncoming traffic, I continue travelling to either Walmart or Hannaford and change direction.

    While a turning lane MAY help reduce the number of accidents, it does not solve the problem. Roughly 1/4th of the accidents studied occurred in the section of road with a turning lane, which is much less than 1/4th of the stretch of road in question. I think a shared turning lane for both directions will be as dangerous. What happens when one vehicle is turning into the Credit Union at the same time another vehicle is turning into the Dodge dealership? Silver Shears & the car wash? Hights & VIP? Jade Palace & Big Apple? And what happens when an impatient driver decides to use the turning lane or breakdown lane as a passing lane?

    Western Ave in Augusta is a much busier road and there is a median restricting turning to designated sections of the road.

  39. I would hope that MDOT will read and heed the opinions of the people who have expressed themselves on this forum.

  40. I have to agree it is a bad idea. As far as the bike lane goes, when bike riders pay a fee to use the highways, then we can spend money to build bike lanes. It is the only mode of transportation that does not pay user fee! MDOT does not want to spend any money. Leave it alone or add a fifth lane like Auburn.

  41. Just because I ride a bike dose not mean I don’t pay road use taxes, I also drive a car. Every bicycle rider removes almost one car from the road. Five lanes with a paved walkway bike lane on one side would be great but the R.O.W. cost would be too much and the building set backs would be too close (example Center Bridge to Old Right Aid). Three lanes may be safer but increased traffic on other roads by people avoiding route 2 could be a bigger problem. There seems to be no good solution.

  42. This is crazy talk. Agree with others who suggest five lanes (four current lanes + turning lane).

  43. We were driving to Wally world last night and to think of only having 2 driving lanes and a turning lane, is irrational. There are too many vehicles using that road to reduce the quantity of lanes. If you’re going to do anything, widen the road so there are 2 bike lanes and a sidewalk. That’s my vote.

  44. It is funny…. this is a small part of everyone’s day in regards to commuting for time and mileage when you really take the time to think about it. And if this plan is safer then how can people really disagree? If the project does happen it will be interesting what is said in the years to come. Maybe everyone needs to look at a bigger picture than just themselves driving through this section.
    I have heard it called “suicide ally” why would that be?
    Let’s get it safer.

  45. I agree with Steve’s comments. The section with a turning lane has more accidents per mile than the four lane section without a turning lane. These are DOT’s numbers. What are we missing? Why would we want to cause even more accidents? Hopefully this can be explained at the next meeting. Thanks.

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