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| The Maine Department of Transportation will contribute $1.45 million to install adaptive traffic signals along Route 302 in Windham starting at the Route 115 intersection and continuing through Trails End Road. The signals detect changing traffic patterns and will continuously distribute green-light time equitably for all traffic movement, aiming to reduce congestion by creating smoother traffic flow through the town. PHOTO BY ED PIERCE |
By Ed Pierce
It’s been said that roads and bridges do not automatically upgrade or repair and rebuild themselves and that's why each year, state legislators collaborate with the Maine Department
of Transportation to prioritize projects that make our commutes safer and smoother.
Maine DOT’s
Three-Year Work Plan outlines the efforts and initiatives that the department
intends to perform over the next three-year span. It is calendar year-based and
includes all Maine DOT work activities across the state.
While projects
and activities listed for Calendar Year 2021 have the most definite schedules
and estimates, those for Calendar Years 2022 and 2023 may be more subject to
change and depending upon available state funding.
Earlier this week State Representative Patrick Corey, a Republican representing Windham, announced that the Maine Department of Transportation’s Work Plan for Calendar Years 2021, 2022 and 2023 is available and includes specific highway improvement projects to be conducted in the community.
Statewide, the estimated
value of work performed as outlined in the plan totals more than 2,180
individual work items with a total value of $2.71 billion. MDOT estimates that from
2021 to 2023, it will invest in more than 100 miles of highway construction and
rehabilitation; 893 miles of pavement preservation; 2,175 miles of light
capital paving for roads and highways; 222 safety and spot improvements; and
166 different bridge projects.
Corey said that the three-year
MDOT Work Plan for Windham from 2021 to 2023 includes seven different projects
totaling more than $2.5 million.
He said that this work
includes numerous improvements to Route 302 in Windham such as rehabilitation
and construction to the roundabout as well as safety improvements made possible
through the municipal partnership initiative program.
“MDOT Work Plan projects will benefit our local communities in many ways,” Corey said in a press release. “I am pleased to see several MDOT projects scheduled for the next three years in our area. They will make our roads safer and benefit the local economy.”
Among the planned MDOT projects Corey announced for Windham for
2021 are:
** Route 115. A project will be replacing joints, applying sealer to
wearing surface, and repair abutment to the Narrows Bridge over Ditch Brook, located
260 feet west of Running Brook Road in Windham. The cost of this project is $150,000.
** William Knight Road. A specific planning
and outreach project will examine replacement of Varney's Bridge over the Pleasant
River located 0.44 of a mile northwest of Route 4. The cost of this project is $25,000.
** Falmouth Road. Crews will pave the
roadway surface beginning 0.03 of a mile south of Stevens Road and extending
south 0.79 of a mile to Route 202. The cost of this project is $32,000.
** Route 302. MDOT will join the Town of Windham in the Municipal
Partnership Initiative Program and fund the installation of adaptive traffic
signaling systems at various intersections. The adaptive
signal control technology will feature the timing of red, yellow and green
lights to accommodate changing traffic patterns and ease traffic congestion
along Route 302. The main benefits of adaptive signal control technology over
conventional signal systems currently in place are that it will be able to
continuously distribute green-light time equitably for all traffic movement,
improve travel time reliability by progressively moving vehicles through green
lights, reduce congestion by creating smoother flow, and prolong the
effectiveness of traffic signal timing. The adaptive signal project will
begin at Route 115 and extend northwest 1.14 miles to Trails End Road. The cost
of this project is $1.45 million.
** Route 302. MDOT will join the Planning
Partnership Initiative Program to conduct a feasibility study for alleviating
traffic congestion on the route through town. The project begins at Route 202
and extends north 6.32 miles through Windham. The cost of the project is $150,000.
Corey
also announced two projects that are planned to take place in 2022:
**
Route 302.
Highway rehabilitation as state crews remove and replace the wearing course to
reset the deterioration process of the highway surface. The project will begin
0.45 of a mile west of Outpost Drive and extend west 0.14 of a mile, including
the roundabout intersection of Route 302 with Route 202. The cost of the highway rehabilitation
project is $585,000.
** Route 302. Highway safety
improvements will be made to the intersection of Route 302 and Albion Road. The
total cost of this project is $120,000. <
