FARMINGTON – Selectmen plan to continue the discussion of the Maine Department of Transportation’s proposal to make traffic pattern changes along a section of Wilton Road/Routes 2 and 4 at a meeting set for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 19. The meeting will be held in the Community Center on Middle Street to accommodate a larger crowd.
MDOT is making the lane change proposal now as part of a $2.9 million road paving project scheduled for 2016 or 2017 along the Wilton Road.
The heavily traveled road has seen a high incidence of crashes compared with other similar roads in the state. Based on a traffic study, MDOT recommends making lane configuration changes where traffic congestion was found to be most significant and safety a higher than average issue.
That area of the Wilton Road was found to occur from Oakes Street in West Farmington to Walmart, a stretch of 2.48 miles. MDOT is proposing to reduce the number of travel lanes in various configurations in the area of most safety concern.
The proposed changes are:
• From Oakes Street to Hannaford, two travel lanes westbound and one travel lane eastbound (towards downtown Farmington) with a center turn lane;
• From Hannaford to the road’s rise at the new Dollar Store, the two westbound travel lanes remain open for heavy trucks to make the climb. At the Dollar Store the two westbound lanes merge into one lane and continue to the Knowlton Corner Road intersection.
• The merged section would include a two-way turning lane at the center of the road and a 7-foot wide breakdown lane. A single travel lane would continue west to Walmart.
• Heading east, from Walmart towards downtown Farmington, two lanes would merge into one lane to Bridge Street. No changes are suggested between the hospital and Walmart.
MDOT traffic engineers estimated a 1 to 2-mile per hour decrease in speed between Bridge Street and the hospital with the new plan.
Selectmen are expected to discuss and then vote on a recommendation. The final decision is up to the MDOT, although at the last meeting on March 18, Dennis Emidy, a MDOT regional traffic engineer, said it is not likely the lane changes will be made if the board is against the plan.
In another matter, selectmen at their meeting Tuesday night voted to hold off on an engineering design to improve Front Street and West Farmington areas. Proposals were sought from firms to design plans for sidewalk and decorative lights in both areas and to add parking in West Farmington.
The work, recommended by an advisory committee, was to be funded through downtown tax increment financing revenue. Instead, it was decided by the committee and selectmen to wait and learn more about the possibility of an area in West Farmington be designated under the definition of “Slum and Blight, in order to be eligible for a Community Development Block Grant to potentially leverage matching funds for infrastructure upgrades.
Selectmen said they need more information about the grant potential.
If this plan goes through, alternate car merging signs would be a good idea to avoid more road rage.
A simple question to the board. Given input from the community is an option, is there any possible comment, that could have any impact on the board’s decision, not to approve the plan? Base on the fact that the DOT has spent significant money on the study and proposed plan, I think it is a done deal.
Perhaps the break down lane could function for bicycles and foot traffic as there is little place for them with the current traffic patterns.
Why wouldn’t a couple of lights work , say at the new dollar store and one at radio shack ? It would slow traffic down and add breaks in the traffic pattern so people would have a chance to enter and exit . Ive noticed that when leaving the Big Apple or Subway with the Hannaford light .
The diagram does not show the merging lanes and the possible contacts for that scenario. Picture a major bottleneck with heavy traffic and serious competition as to who gets the right away to merge. In some areas the center turning lane has been referred to as the suicide lane. People pull out and travel in it until they can find their way to the driving lane. They can appear to be headed right at you. It happens all the time on Center St. in Auburn. It’s quite interesting. $2.9 million to slow us down 1 or 2 mph. Really?!?
what is wrong with leaving it the way it is and putting in a couple of turn around spots. when I leave a business ( for example The Credit Union) I usually turn right , get in the left lane, pull into Franklin Chrysler , and go back the other way, if traffic is heavy.
2.9 million is alot to spend on something that im sure alot of us can see as a traffic jam from Jay to Farmington where there is no way to get around a slow Sunday out for a cruise 10 mph under the speed limit driver. My opinion would be to deal with the problem and everybody stop acting like your phone is worth more then somebodies life and kids qualifying for the indy 500 SLOW DOWN! What a budget saver idea. Chanches are reality will not happen. More money spent in such a rediculous way. Surprise. Good luck with the desicion Farmington hopefully it works out for you.
I think they should spend time on things that need fixing not the road changes. I cannot imagine how things are going to back up. Why are we going backwards?
Also needed is a sidewalk from Hannafords to Walmart. We have to walk up on lawns or in the roadway. Bicycle riders are not very safe or visible in the roadway.
Why can’t the road be built the same as it is in front of Save A Lot? 2 lanes in both directions with a center turning lane? Push these businesses back, there is plenty of room to expand on the sides. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist.
If the plan goes through, then lets remind ourselves that emergency vehicles have the right of way. Under no law are they to violate motor vehicle laws including speed, going through red lights, and stop signs. I can see, that this turn lane will try to be used as their direct route. Any violations of the turn lane, speed ,lights, etc. by emergency vehicles should be reported to the State Police, as the local cops would not enforce it.
If there are no changes between the hospital and Wal Mart area, is that not one of the biggest areas of some of the worst crashes.
If, as it looks in the diagram here, the turning lanes are in the center, people are going to have to cross into the faster lane- outside lane- to get to their destination. Is anyone going to want to slow down for us to get across.
Sounds like a night mare to me and very bad. Leave it as it is and paint the signs in the road so you can see them.
Brenda, I’m no rocket scientist but I did read Steve’s comment from a previous article…
dailybulldog.com/db/features/mdot-proposes-going-to-three-lanes-along-wilton-road/
“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.”
Push the businesses back? Really? It’s just that easy? Thanks to Steve’s math I hardly think it’s worth the cost.
Mr. Alden,
You site a common belief and I will not try to change your mind. I might, however offer a reference to Maine Law you might not be familiar with.
Maine Revised Statute Title 29-A Chapter 19 Section 2054, subsection 5
If the current four lanes are made into three, then it seems there might be room on the outside for bike/pedestrian lanes, which would be very helpful.
Per with due regard for safety:
5. Exercise of privileges. The operator of an authorized emergency vehicle when responding to, but not upon returning from, an emergency call or fire alarm or when in pursuit of an actual or suspected violator of the law may exercise the privileges set forth in this subsection. The operator of an authorized emergency vehicle may:
A. Park or stand, notwithstanding the provisions of this chapter; [1993, c. 683, Pt. A, §2 (NEW); 1993, c. 683, Pt. B, §5 (AFF).]
B. Proceed past a red signal, stop signal or stop sign, but only after slowing down as necessary for safe operation; [1993, c. 683, Pt. A, §2 (NEW); 1993, c. 683, Pt. B, §5 (AFF).]
C. Exceed the maximum speed limits as long as life or property is not endangered, except that capital security officers and employees of the Department of Corrections may not exercise this privilege; [2001, c. 360, §7 (AMD).]
D. Disregard regulations governing direction of movement or turning in specified directions; and [1993, c. 683, Pt. A, §2 (NEW); 1993, c. 683, Pt. B, §5 (AFF).]
E. Proceed with caution past a stopped school bus that has red lights flashing only:
(1) After coming to a complete stop; and
(2) When signaled by the school bus operator to proceed. [1993, c. 683, Pt. A, §2 (NEW); 1993, c. 683, Pt. B, §5 (AFF).]
To ; WITH DUE REGARD:
You can exceed the speed limit, go through lights and stop signs, ONLY AND IF ONLY THERE IS NO DANGER TO LIFE AND PROPERTY. YOU MUST SLOW DOWN AT INTERSECTIONS AND STOP SIGNS AND LIGHTS AND PROCEED SAFELY. This does not always happen. The main point that you missed is you cannot use the turn lane as your major route.
Take a little from both sides, moved the 2 lanes each direction out a bit and put the turning lane in the middle, thus 5 lanes. Don’t go back to 3.
Don’t forget there are fire hydrants along one side of the road and utility lines along the other. Widening the road would require them to be moved which is very costly.
So we come back to the basic question of, what problem are we trying to solve? Reduce the number of accidents? What is common factor in most of the accidents?
DRIVERS NOT PAYING ATTENTION TO DRIVING.
Just don’t see enough flashing blue lights on this stretch of highway. An unmarked cruiser writing $1000 tickets would surely have an impact on your decision to text or talk on your phone.
Walkways and bike lanes?? This is not a residential street folks, it is a highway.
Why would the board vote in favor of this proposal baffles me.
I don’t know about the rest of you, but what about the big rigs? What will happen when this gets knocked down to one driving lane? With every car turning right, these loaded rigs will loose all of their speed and require time and distance to get back up to speed. That sounds like quite the cause of accidents to me. With one person going under the speed limit, traffic will become backed up.. This will clog up the turning lane as people won’t be able to complete their turns because there will never be a break in traffic. Going to one driving lane each way sounds like an awful idea to me. I would, however, love to see more room for walkers, even a side walk, anything. I don’t feel safe when I drive near Irving or Franklin Printing and see someone walking on the curb just barely off the road, I often slow down and switch to the other lane, but sometimes that isn’t an option. I feel there must be a better solution.
Moving poles and hydrants if by far less costly than the lives of any human being, widen the road to 5 lanes and make it safe for all who travel it