CARRABASSETT VALLEY – A high number of traffic accidents along a two-mile section of Route 27 known locally as the S-turns has prompted local police and the Maine Department of Transportation to do something to improve public safety.

“Sixty-five accidents on that one stretch of road since Nov. 1, 2007, is unacceptable,” Carrabassett Valley police Chief Scott Nichols said. “We need to do more to ensure the safety of the driving public. Conditions there can turn icy in an instant. We were very lucky this year; there were no deaths in any of the accidents, but some of them could have been very, very bad.”

For now, officials have agreed the solution will be the placement of a large sign with flashing lights, warning drivers to reduce speed due to icy conditions ahead.

The series of curves on the highway are just a half-mile north of the town center and run in serpentine fashion for several miles. As motorists head north the Carrabassett River is on the right and high cliffs are on the left. The cliffs deny much sunlight to the road surface and the river itself lends to drafts and drifts because of wind currents, Nichols said.

“March was the worst month for accidents,” Nichols said. “In the daytime, the snow melts and runs across the road toward the river, then the shadows increase, the temperature drops and there’s instant ice on the road.”

The majority of the accidents involved weekend visitors, unfamiliar with the road and traveling to or from the Sugarloaf ski resort, Nichols said. Ninety percent of the mishaps occurred early on Sunday evenings, only three involved alcohol, he said.

Southbound drivers encounter the S-turns shortly after passing the Redington community sign, just south of the Carrabassett Valley Academy building. Officials have decided to place the sign in that area. Southbound traffic, headed downhill, would benefit from the warning and hopefully slow down when road conditions deteriorate. The lights on the sign would be activated by police department personnel from the communications center.

Carrabassett Valley police patrol the stretch of road frequently to determine road conditions.

“It takes man-hours to scope out the road conditions,” Nichols said. “But that’s what we have to do. Conditions can change so fast that we can enter that stretch just fine, it can become a bit slick on the end and we can have a very hard time coming back up north, just in the space of 20 minutes.”

“We’re all very concerned with the number of accidents in the S-turns,” Town Manager Dave Cota said. “MDOT will find the funding to install the lights . . . but operating costs will fall to the town. We don’t believe they will be very extensive.

“If the lighting significantly decreases the amount of accidents in the S-turns the town may actually save money through the reduction of fire department salaries for traffic control at accidents. And we can save the public from serious injury at the same time,” Cota said.

Nichols warns that even though the posted speed along that stretch is 50 mph, that is for optimum driving conditions.

“We hope this sign will allow drivers to slow down before they hit that first corner, because that’s generally where the icy conditions, and the troubles, begin,” he said.