PARIS — The Board of Selectmen have unanimously rejected the idea of creating a rotary at Market Square to improve traffic flow.
Town Manager Vic Hodgkins said the Maine Department of Transportation last fall presented several options for the intersection at Main, East Main and Park streets.
“The most expensive of those options was a rotary,” Hodgkins told selectmen at their meeting Monday. “At the time, there seemed to be some enthusiasm about a rotary, but it was at least a million-dollar project, and half of it would be funded by the town.”
He said if the board wished, he could go to Augusta to ask state highway officials if they would pay for it.
“I could sit down and say, ‘Hey, this is a state road, and we need to be taken care of too. Maybe you guys should consider funding 100 percent of the project,’” Hodgkins said.
Selectman Chris Summers immediately said no to having a rotary.
“Even if we went ahead and managed to get 100 percent of the rotary paid for, which I’m not buying, it’s going to create a hell of a mess for anyone driving with more than 10 tires,” Summers said. “If you put an 18-wheeler truck through a rotary, all you’re doing is creating a mess, and we already have a lot of traffic with the intersection.”
He added, “If you want to talk about signage, and improving motorists’ understanding of the intersection, then yes, I’m for that, all day long. I personally think we could seriously tick off businesses if we start messing around with that (intersection).”
Selectman Rusty Brackett agreed with Summers.
“You aren’t going to get an 18-wheeler truck with a 53-foot trailer through there without them driving over the middle of the rotary.”
Selectwoman Kathy Richardson said she wasn’t convinced that there’s a problem.
“Why do we need to fix something that’s not a problem?” she asked. “I’m certainly against the rotary.”
Chairwoman Janet Jamison said a rotary isn’t “worth the time, money, or aggravation.”
She said the town needed to figure out a way, “whether painting the pavement or adding signs,” to let people know the proper way to operate the Market Square intersection.
Selectman Scott Buffington said the intersection “works good the way it is.”
mdaigle@sunmediagroup.net
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