A car waits Tuesday to make a left-hand turn onto Route 26 from Oxford Street in Oxford. The state is proposing installing a traffic light to make the intersection safer and easier for left-hand turns. Evan W. Houk/Advertiser Democrat

PARIS — The Maine Department of Transportation discussed initial plans for installing a traffic signal at the intersection of Route 26 and Oxford Street in Oxford during a meeting of the Select Board on Monday.

The board requested state officials attend the meeting to discuss the project. Oxford Street is between Route 119 in Paris and Route 26 in Oxford 

Town Manager Natalie Andrews asked if the traffic signal would increase the volume of vehicles at the intersection.

“In my history at DOT, I haven’t seen a traffic light increase traffic,” Brian Keezer, project manager, said. “We don’t think that it’s going to start bringing people to that intersection or to Oxford Street.”

“Nobody wants to see accidents,” Selectman Chris Summers said. “The town is concerned about the potential that putting that light in would highlight, for some, Oxford Street, that might not have noticed it otherwise.”

Keezer noted that traffic will naturally increase over time as it does historically.

“I personally don’t believe it’s all of a sudden going to send more people in that direction,” Keezer said. “It’s just going to make it safer, particularly for people making left-hand turns out of there.”

A survey has been completed and some initial design work is being done by Jason Ready, a consultant with Watertown, Massachusetts-based VHP, which was hired to design the project.

The intersection has been identified by the state highway department as a “designated high-crash location,” which means that at least eight crashes have occurred there in the past three years.

“Statistically, it has more crashes than similar intersections,” Ready said.

The state will next hold a virtual public hearing to allow anyone to submit comments or questions concerning the project. It makes available an “on-demand presentation” on its website for anyone to view for a specified amount of time.

“These on-demand meetings allow for convenient viewing at any time. The meeting also provides the ability for online comments and questions that will be answered by MaineDOT staff,” a recent DOT notice for a Litchfield project reads.

Participants are able to comment and ask questions directed to the project manager, whose mailing address, phone number, and email are listed on the notice.

“We are particularly interested in learning local views, discovering local resources, and identifying local concerns and issues,” the notice reads.

Andrews told the Select Board she will reach out to Oxford Town Manager Adam Garland to see if he can ask for an in-person public hearing, since the project is in Oxford.

“If we get unanimous opposition to it, it’s likely we’ll go away and spend the money somewhere else,” Keezer said. 

The traffic lights will have field monitoring units that will recognize when to change the light when a car comes up to it, rather than a simple timer.

In other business, the board directed Andrews to send a letter to MDOT to initiate an engineering study and analysis of the Market Square intersection, which is estimated to cost about $130,000. Residents voted to appropriate $150,000 for the Market Square project at the annual town meeting, which could be used for the initial study, Andrews said.

Matt Drost, regional transportation planner with the department, discussed ways to improve traffic and decrease crashes at the intersection of Routes 117 and 26 at the board’s last meeting.

He suggested the town utilize MDOT’s Planning Partnership Initiative, which would split the cost of the project 50/50 with Paris. The study is the first step in the process and will take about 12 to 18 months. It will evaluate the intersection and make a recommendation for how to move forward with improving it, Drost said.

The board approved moving its Oct. 14 meeting to Oct. 15 at 6 p.m. because of Indigenous Peoples Day.