LIVERMORE - Town officials have received a recommendation to install one traffic sign and remove another at a three-way intersection of Botka Hill Road, Goding Road and Spruce Mountain Road. At least one resident doesn't agree with the recommendation.

The select board sought an evaluation of the adequacy of the existing signs after a resident of Goding Road brought up safety concerns, town Administrative Assistant Kurt Schaub said.

The three roads are off Route 4, near the bridge over the Androscoggin River to Livermore Falls.

Traffic engineer Gene Uhuad of the Maine Department of Transportation issued a recommendation after a site visit June 3.

"As a general rule, the right of way is usually given to the road that has the higher average annual daily traffic," Uhuad wrote to the board.

They found that there are more residences on Goding Road than there are on Botka Hill Road or Spruce Mountain Road.

This suggests that the bulk of the traffic passing through this intersection must be residents of Goding Road or drivers that are coming from or going to the Crash Road, Uhuad stated.

"We recommend that the existing yield sign on Goding Road be removed, and a stop sign be installed on Botka Hill Road," he said. "This will give the right of way to vehicles traveling on Goding Road, and will require vehicles on Botka Hill Road to come to a full stop before turning left or right onto Goding Road."

Botka Hill Road is on a downgrade and is perpendicular to Goding Road, Uhuad wrote. Requiring vehicles to come to a full stop on Botka Hill Road will reduce problems associated with sharp turns on a downgrade, he said.

"Also, please install an intersection warning sign ahead of the stop sign on Botka Hill Road and stencil a stop bar on the pavement," Uhuad stated. "The existing stop sign on Spruce Mountain Road is old and faded and should also be replaced. In addition, brush or tree branches that might obscure the visibility of the signs should be trimmed."

Schaub said selectpersons have submitted another question to Uhuad asking whether a stop sign could be installed where the yield sign is on Goding Road.

That would bring drivers on all three roads to a halt before proceeding.

Doug Merrill, who lives at the bottom of Botka Hill, said there is currently no stop sign on Botka Hill Road because vehicles coming down the hill in the winter cannot stop.

"I lived here 30 years and that is the way it has been," he said. "I can't even go up it to go to work. I have to go down and around."

Some vehicles going down Goding Road are going faster than they should, he said.

If the yield sign on Goding was moved down toward the end of his property, it would work better, he said.

He doesn't agree with a stop sign being installed at the bottom of Botka Hill, he said.

"I'm not ugly about it, it's just safer this way," Merrill said.