Some intersections are more complicated than others.
Connecting the Main Street, Route 1, Route 215, and Academy Hill together in Newcastle certainly makes for some traffic challenges. Offering access to Bristol, South Bristol, Jefferson, Whitefield and points beyond and sporting St. Patrick’s Church and Lincoln Academy, it’s no surprise the intersection at the end of Mills Road is one of the busiest in Lincoln County.
It is little wonder then that everybody seems to have an opinion on that intersection and what should be done – or not done – to improve it. Whenever that intersection is in the news for whatever reason, we invariably field three types of questions for days: what are they doing; why can’t they leave it alone; and why does it have to be a roundabout?
All involved with studying this intersection and the nearby River Road intersection have taken the task seriously and worked hard.
For now, it appears that the roundabout is off the table.
That was the favor of the Newcastle Select Board meeting Monday night. Presented with the final versions of the Village Partnership Initiative report, the board directed Town Manager Kevin Sutherland to add their impressions, endorsing a T-style intersection where River Road joins Main Street and a four-way stop at the intersection of Mills Road and Academy Hill.
Together the report and the board’s recommendations will be sent on to the Maine Department of Transportation. What happens next is anyone’s guess.
There are still public hearings, funding considerations, engineering plans, requests for proposals, and eventually, possibly construction may follow. Newcastle officials have spent a great deal of time working toward a different design for this area, hoping to improve the navigation of the intersections for the community.
We hope some additional traffic studies can be conducted with summer traffic to estimate the impact to traffic leaving the downtown area. The last thing the county needs is another gridlocked village from summer traffic.
