A man crosses Water Street on Thursday in downtown Skowhegan. Town leaders are looking to work with the Maine Department of Transportation to introduce safety measures that would make downtown more accommodating to shoppers, diners and other pedestrians. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel
SKOWHEGAN — Town leaders are looking to work with the Maine Department of Transportation to introduce traffic safety measures downtown before prioritizing talks on the proposed construction of a second bridge across the Kennebec River.
The DOT in January announced a program called the Village Partnership Initiative that the agency says is meant to improve “lower-speed areas where people meet, walk, shop and do business.”
Part of the idea is to introduce things like crosswalks, narrower roadways and bike lanes to slow traffic and make downtowns and other places more attractive to shoppers and diners. The DOT in an earlier news release said projects can vary from small safety improvements to “larger, once-in-a-lifetime, placemaking investments.”
Such projects have already been done in Belgrade, Hallowell, Ogunquit and more. The idea is to couple local money with state and federal funds to cover the cost.
Water Street on Thursday viewed from a passageway in downtown Skowhegan. Town leaders are considering working with the Maine Department of Transportation to introduce safety measures that would make downtown more accommodating to shoppers, diners and other pedestrians. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel
While town officials have pumped the brakes on discussions about a second bridge, some progress continues to be made.
The next phase is to begin an environmental impact study that’s required in order to receive federal money for the project. The study will likely take a few years to complete.
There are two leading options for a new bridge: one for a span extending into downtown and another for a structure a mile outside of downtown.
The downtown option is projected to cost $55.3 million and would allow for improved roadway connections in the area. The downstream option would be built near the Great Eddy and provide roadway connections between U.S. Route 201 and U.S. Route 2. The downstream proposal is cheaper, at $25.5 million, and would have relatively low impact on abutters, officials have said.
A letter from the DOT to Town Manager Christine Almand indicated the agency “has no immediate plans to move forward with a second bridge” without local support.
The letter, from DOT administrator Dale Doughty, said a feasibility study last year “concluded that a new bridge on a new location could have some locally profound impacts.”
“Maine DOT understands, and if we move forward to further study and build a new bridge, we will do everything to minimize impacts,” Doughty said. “However, if there was a simple solution for a second river crossing, it may have already been constructed decades ago.”
Almand sent a letter to DOT earlier this year that listed some concerns by selectmen on the project, including several existing DOT projects in town.
“The selectmen want to make sure that DOT takes the town, as a whole, into account” as it moves forward with design and other work, Almand wrote.
The bridge feasibility study indicated several factors that drive the need for a second span downtown, including the number of vehicles that pass Island Avenue daily, making it the busiest roadway in town. Other factors included nearby intersections where wrecks regularly occur, intersections that handle too much traffic flow and long traffic backups during peak morning travel times.
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