At separate meetings this week, the Waldoboro and Jefferson Boards of Selectmen both approved a management plan for the future of Rt. 32. The plan is the result of about six months of work by a committee comprising members of both towns, at the request of the Maine Dept. of Transportation.
The plan outlines the committee’s list of essential projects they’d like to see undertaken by DOT in the coming years. Most of the projects are safety oriented, but a few are environmentally and economically driven.
“This does not mean DOT is necessarily going to have the money to do these things,” said Lincoln County Planner Bob Faunce, who oversaw the list’s creation, “but when DOT proposes a project, they’ll have some assurance that there’s community support behind it.”
DOT will still hold public hearings before starting any construction project on Rt. 32, but Faunce and town officials hope this plan will streamline the process.
“The assumption is, if it’s in the plan, it’s okay with the towns,” Faunce said.
Three years ago, DOT asked Lincoln County to identify the roads that planners think will be most important to future economic development, and to outline plans for the future of those roads. Along with Rt. 32, plans will be created for Rt. 27 and Rt. 1. The Rt. 27 plan is in the works, and the Rt. 1 plan will be folded into the Gateway 1 Project.
Once Rt. 32 was chosen, the committee of residents from Waldoboro and Jefferson discussed projects they’d like to see the state undertake. Those projects were discussed with a DOT engineer, who provided Faunce with potentially feasible solutions to the committee’s problems. The engineer’s input was brought back to the committee and a final list was drawn up.
DOT was not instructive in the formation of the details of the plan, “it was really up to us,” Faunce told the Waldoboro selectmen on Sept. 28. The DOT engineer simply helped to make sure all the items in the plan are theoretically feasible, Faunce said.
“The towns are endorsing that these are improvements that need to be made – nothing more,” Faunce told the selectmen.
“I thought it was something more concrete than that,” said Waldoboro Selectman Bob Butler, sounding relieved.
Both boards voted unanimously to endorse the plan, which will now be sent to DOT to instruct their planning for future improvements to Rt. 32.
Rt. 32 is important because it’s a major connecter, has industrial areas and has a rail crossing; the Rt. 32 crossing, along with the crossing at Rt. 1 in Waldoboro are the only two rail crossings in Lincoln County east of Wiscasset that are suitable for future development, Faunce said.
“It’s important for people to realize that we’re not just talking about pavement and cars,” Faunce said. The plan also includes improvements for bike and pedestrian access.
For example, at the Rt. 32 bridge crossing in the Jefferson Village – the busiest section of Rt. 32, according to independent studies – the plan calls for added signs, pavement markings, crosswalks and a reevaluation of speed limits.
Currently, about 3200 vehicles cross the bridge each day, Faunce said. By 2030, that number is expected to double, according to an independent study conducted as part of Gateway 1.
“Right now we have people walking in the gravel shoulders and people who like to walk on the road but can’t,” Faunce said. “Especially if those predictions are right, it’s a major safety issue and a matter of improving people’s experience.”
At the Jefferson selectmen’s meeting on Sept. 27, residents were most concerned about speed limits and the safety of the intersection at the Eames Road.
Speed limits would be adjusted or not based on DOT surveys, which the plan calls for, but there are also ways to help slow traffic using road design, Faunce said.
“Those types of things are exactly why we have this plan,” Faunce said. “So that DOT knows what people want.”
The problem, and the reason that so much work is needed to solve the speeding problem in most Lincoln County villages, is that cars have just gotten too fast, Faunce said.
“We’re using a transportation system that was laid out in the 1800s and trying to accommodate 21st century vehicles,” Faunce said. To that end, medians and other forms of traffic calming can be used to keep traffic moving at safe speeds.
However, the plan does not prioritize any particular projects. Items are divided into recommended timeframes – within two years, two to five years and five to 10 years – which provides a sort of prioritization, Faunce said.
For example, most of the pedestrian improvements, speed limit adjustments and other items on the plan that simply call for studies to be conducted are listed as immediate concerns, or within two years.
Some parts of the plan call for large-scale projects to improve safety, which are listed as long term, or five to 10 years. One such long-term item, which was a focus of conversation with the Waldoboro selectmen, calls for paved shoulders along the entire length of Rt. 32. The shoulders would vary between two- and four-feet wide, with four-foot shoulders placed at key pedestrian and bike areas.
Another long-term item in the plan calls for DOT engineers to explore reducing the slope of the hill at the intersection with the Eames Road in Jefferson to increase sight distance for vehicles pulling out onto Rt. 32.
“I’ll die before I see the top of that hill cut off,” said Jefferson resident Michael Bowden.
Residents and selectmen in both towns echoed Bowden’s concerns about the actual impact the plan will have, but most ultimately agreed with Robert “Jigger” Clark, chairman of the Jefferson selectmen, who said, “I guess a plan is better than nothing at all.”
