LIVERMORE FALLS – Residents agreed Wednesday night there is more downtown traffic and it’s going too fast to be safe for pedestrians.
At a meeting to get information for a traffic study, people agreed truck traffic has increased in the last 12 years, and it would be good to reroute it out of the downtown and away from the sharp corners on Routes 4, 17 and 133. At times trucks have to take up two lanes to make the corners, and sometimes vehicles in the opposite lane have to back up to let trucks go by, residents said.
Downtown merchants, however, don’t want to lose business from vehicles taking a truck bypass.
“You’re damned if you don’t, you’re damned if you do because you don’t want to lose that traffic,” said Marc Paradis, owner of the Chuck Wagon Restaurant.
Joan Walton of the Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments is conducting a study for the state Department of Transportation to improve the traffic flow and make the area more pedestrian-friendly.
Residents adopted a comprehensive plan in 2002, Walton said, and one of the issues residents wanted addressed was traffic solutions. An analysis in 1993 showed that 10 to 12 percent of the traffic through the downtown was trailer trucks, Walton said.
That’s a high volume, she said.
She asked if people thought that that volume had increased. Many said it has.
“No doubt about it truck traffic has increased,” said Bruce Adams, a resident and businessman.
“I think there is a lot of truck traffic and they’re going fast,” resident Tammy Gratin said. “We really want a walking downtown.”
Town Manager Alan Gove agreed, saying vehicle speed needs to be addressed.
Adams suggested getting flashing signs that highlight a vehicle’s speed as it is going down the road.
Planning Board member Rod Wright asked about bypasses to reroute traffic downtown.
A plan was considered 15 to 20 years ago to reroute Route 17 on Foundry Road, which would come up by the Municipal Building and connect to Route 17 near the Chuck Wagon, cutting out the sharp corners and one railroad crossing, Walton said.
She said she didn’t know how viable that would be since it’s in a flood zone.
Other ideas were to reroute Routes 133 and 17, all going across private property.
Another issue is the three railroad crossings in town that are in rough shape, Adams said.
Wright suggested slowing downtown traffic from 25 to 15 miles per hour. He also suggested flashing school-zone lights on Route 133.
Walton said there was nothing that couldn’t be looked at, she just couldn’t guarantee it would be feasible and she couldn’t guarantee the state would have the money to do it.
Walton said she would come back in a few weeks with some recommendations for short- and long-term solutions.
Once that happens, it would be up to the town to move those ideas forward, she said.
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