To the Editor:
Last week Art Mayers, well-known Newcastle curmudgeon, postulated that a traffic circle where Academy Rd. and Rt. 215 meet Bus. Rt. 1 is a bad idea. I disagree.
I have seen many examples where rotaries work very well, and I supported the previous, rejected study at this intersection as well as lobbying for a rotary by the Baptist Church in Damariscotta. I think the design of a rotary at the ends of the twin town downtowns is a nice concept.
Art’s principal objection is that it would tie up traffic by discommoding the large trucks that use Bus. Rt. 1. Good. I would be delighted to find some solution to getting the rumbling leviathans to use some other route. The vast majority is only passing through, and I wish they wouldn’t.
Rest easy Art, the rotary will never materialize. These things are expensive and the DOT always favors the simple, if stupid, solution. I see through traffic on Bus. Rt. 1 and a stoplight to handle the other two roads. Hopefully we won’t need the 14 or whatever absurd number of stoplights we have by the Baptist Church.
Then we can stop and wait, which is the function of the traffic light, instead of moving smoothly on around a rotary.
Kit Hayden, Newcastle
