Further restricting the flow of traffic on outer Lisbon Street doesn’t make sense for the majority of people who use the highway.

A developer would like to build a convenience store along the road. Before approving the construction, the state would require the road to narrow from four lanes to three lanes.

Heavy traffic flow on the road can make left turns especially hazardous. The majority of Lisbon Street has five lanes, two in each direction and a turning lane. The street narrows to two lanes near the city line with Lisbon.

Repainting the road won’t reduce the number of cars on the highway, which is a major commuting route into the city. What really needs to happen is for the road to be widened. There’s no money slated for a project on that scale, and the city and developer are looking for a cheap way around the problem.

Driving out Lisbon Street, it’s easy to identify the hazard. Cars are turning off the street from both lanes, while traffic tries to flow around them. But reducing traffic to a single lane in each direction will lead to longer backups and more dense traffic. Vehicles turning right would essentially stop the flow of cars in and out of the city. Meanwhile, the middle, turning lane – sometimes called a “suicide lane” because it carries traffic simultaneously in both directions – would provide some relief for cars turning left.

But a turning lane is no silver bullet for safety. Drivers often misuse the lanes, treating them as merging lanes or as a stopping point when pulling out of a parking lot.

The Lewiston Planning Board will consider the request to re-stripe Lisbon Street on Monday night. The City Council, then, could hear the matter on Tuesday.

We would urge both to be skeptical. The real question they should ask is not about how to finagle the paint on the highway to meet state demands, but whether Lisbon Street as it’s currently constructed is suitable for increased at-grade development in the proposed spot.