By Scott Taylor,Staff Writer

LEWISTON – South Lisbon Street’s days as speedway could be numbered if a plan to restripe the road from four lanes to three passes.

Reducing the number of lanes would slow down traffic, make turns safer and make the area more developable, city officials say.

A proposed convenience store near the South Lisbon Road intersection hinges on it.

“I cannot build my store if the street stays the way it is,” said developer Nino Naous. Naous will present his plans to the city Planning Board on Aug. 8. He has agreed to pay part of the cost to restripe Lisbon Street if approved.

The city has scheduled an informational meeting to discuss the restriping plan at 6 p.m. Aug. 3. All property owners along that portion of Lisbon Street are being invited, but the meeting is open to the public.

If the Planning Board approves of the lane change on Aug. 8, it will go to the City Council Aug. 9.

Lisbon Street changes from two lanes to four as it crosses the boundary from Lisbon to Lewiston. Slower cars move off to the right to let the cars behind them zoom past in the left lane.

The road funnels the traffic downtown, past the south Lisbon Street businesses.

The city’s plan would restripe the stretch between the Lisbon line and Westminster Street, replacing the four lanes with three – one lane eastbound, one westbound, and a turning lane in the middle.

“As it stands right now, the left lane becomes a turn lane by default if someone decides they have to turn left,” said Planning Director Gil Arsenault. Cars traveling in the speedy left lane suddenly find the way in front of them blocked by turning traffic.

It has led to several accidents. Traffic engineers noted eight accidents at the Lisbon Street-South Lisbon Road intersection, all blamed on left turns. Six were collisions between Lisbon Street drivers and turning traffic; two were rear-end accidents involving cars waiting to turn.

“People tend to just avoid those businesses,” Arsenault said. “It pretty much shuts down development in that area.”

That stretch of Lisbon Street handles between 14,000 and 15,000 car trips daily, Arsenault said. Traffic engineers say the three-lane configuration could accommodate as many as 25,000 trips daily.

“We know that some people won’t like this, the people that like to go fast,” Arsenault said. “But it would make it a lot safer.”