By Scott Taylor,Staff Writer

AUBURN – Downtown Lewiston-Auburn is one step closer to getting a new turnpike exit, according to local transportation officials.

But there are many steps left, they warn. Local officials on Thursday finished a two-year study that looks at putting a new interchange along the Androscoggin River.

Now the report goes to the state Department of Transportation for a more detailed study. It’s just the first part of getting state and federal money to build a new exit, said Bob Thompson, executive director of the Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments.

The next stage, which will look more closely at six interchange plans, is expected to take between 12 and 18 months to complete.

“I’d like to be like some in the community and say, When do we start digging?'” Thompson said. “So we have to remind people – this is the beginning, not the end.”

The next stage will look similar to the other stages, said Dale Doughty, assistant director for the Maine Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Planning. Public meetings and reviews of the plans will begin late this spring.

“Now it gets more specific, looking at actual sites and the effect this work would have on the local environment,” Doughty said. “We’re trying to determine one plan that’s the most feasible.”

For more than a year, AVCOG and the Androscoggin Transportation Resource Center have been studying where to put a new interchange. They’ve looked at computerized travel-volume estimates, land use and development trends, and available land for construction.

Easier travel

Their study looks at three ideas that could make traveling Twin Cities streets easier: building a full interchange on one side of the river, building a river-spanning interchange complex and building a new bridge over the river somewhere between South Bridge and an interchange.

“The way traffic is right now, you have to get off the turnpike and drive through a good part of Auburn before you get downtown,” Thompson said. “The problem is the same in Lewiston. You have to drive through the city and then get off the turnpike and drive back to get downtown.”

A downtown turnpike exit would take that traffic off the rest of the city streets and ease traffic everywhere, he said.

“You see cars driving on Auburn streets don’t even want to be there,” Thompson said. “They should just be able to get on the turnpike and go.”

Two plans call for building a full interchange, either on Auburn’s Riverside Drive or Lewiston’s River Road. A third plan would put a full interchange on the Auburn side and a half-interchange across the river on River Road. The half-interchange would let traffic coming to or going from parts south of Lewiston enter or exit.

Copy the Story Link