BETHEL – A public hearing with state transportation officials on a town-requested traffic signal for a Route 2 intersection is tentatively set for Dec. 2.

Selectmen and many townspeople want a full-fledged signal with red, yellow and green lights at the intersection of Parkway and Route 2.

Maine Department of Transportation officials want to install a flashing yellow caution light.

Conditions worsen in winter when high snowbanks force drivers to nose into the intersection to determine if it’s safe to proceed further.

Parkway is a short road that connects Route 2 with Route 26.

Traffic flows into the four-way intersection from three directions, two of which have two lanes, one being an overpass that curves down into the junction.

On one side of the road, there is a pair of business entrances: Crossroads Diner and Deli and Rite-Aid Pharmacy. On the other side of the road is the Norway Savings Bank complex and Mallard Mart, a convenience store and gas station.

The intersection has been the scene of many wrecks, injuries and one death.

Since 1999, Bethel officials have written to or met with MDOT officials several times, urging them to install a traffic signal at the junction. State transportation officials have repeatedly told the board that the intersection doesn’t warrant a traffic signal.

Then, in August, MDOT flip-flopped. They asked selectmen if the board was still interested in getting a signal there.

An MDOT letter stated that subsequent analysis of updated 2003 traffic data and evaluation of sight distance restrictions at the Rite-Aid entrance indicated that a traffic signal should now be considered.

Selectmen unanimously said they want a traffic light.

Earlier this month, their hopes were dashed. The MDOT reversed its mid-August decision to install a flashing yellow light.

In an Aug. 30 letter to Town Manager Scott Cole, MDOT-contracted engineer Albert L. Godfrey Jr. said his firm conducted new traffic study at the intersection during the week prior to Aug. 30. He said that based on an analysis of the latest data, current turning movement volumes at the intersection do not meet federal highway minimum standards.

“On that basis, signalization must be ruled out as an option for improving the intersection,” Godfrey stated.

But, he added, his firm would be evaluating other alternatives.

Town officials have long argued – to no avail – that traffic counts taken in August do not accurately reflect the volume of traffic moving through the intersection.

Also, there are no high snowbanks lining the intersection in August.

Cole said Friday that for most places in Maine, summertime traffic is a good indicator for determining traffic volumes.

But, he said, Bethel is different, because its winter traffic volume is just as heavy as other larger towns in the summer, if not more so, due to the town’s close proximity to Sunday River Ski Resort in Newry.

Undeterred by the latest stop-go-stop signals from MDOT, Cole said he would continue to lobby for a full-fledged traffic signal.