WINDHAM – A roundabout with crosswalks will be built at Windham Center Road as part of a reconstruction project to make River Road safer for drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians.

Support for the roundabout Monday at the final public meeting on the project solidified the Maine Department of Transportation’s decision to build it, said project manager Ernie Martin.

The reconstruction of 6 miles of River Road, from Route 202 to Route 302, is scheduled to start in July 2013 and be finished in the fall of 2014.

The state budgeted $5.9 million for the project, which will include installing a drainage system, widening the road and shoulders, and improving visibility by raising some sections of the road and lowering some crests so drivers can see farther in front of them.

Ben Martin of the design firm Clough Harbour & Associates said the latest estimates show that the roundabout would cost $300,000, which could be covered by federal funding earmarked for safety improvements.

The design is for one lane of traffic around the roundabout, which would be 120 feet in diameter — about a third the size of the traffic circle at the intersection of routes 202 and 302 in Windham.

The smaller size forces drivers to go slower, he said during a presentation Monday at Windham High School, attended by about 70 people. He said eliminating the possibility of head-on and T-bone collisions also improves safety.

Citing a study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, he said there are 39 percent fewer crashes, 76 percent fewer injuries and 89 percent fewer fatalities at intersections with roundabouts than at other intersections.

From 2008 to 2011, there were 126 accidents on River Road. Eight of them were at the intersection with Windham Center Road, said Ernie Martin.

Traffic projected in 20 years on River Road, which now carries about 6,500 cars a day, does not warrant adding a signal at the intersection, Ben Martin said. But there would be enough traffic to justify adding left-turn lanes on either side of the intersection, for drivers getting onto Windham Center Road.

He said that would benefit only the flow of traffic, not the safety of the intersection.

The Department of Transportation would have considered left-turn lanes if there had been strong opposition to the roundabout, but more people spoke in favor of the roundabout Monday.

Hans Holtan, who lives near the intersection, said he sees all of the unsafe driving that occurs there. “It just starts getting sickening,” he said.

Holtan said the roundabout is the only way to stop it. “Painting the lines will do nothing.”

Michael Greene, one of the few people who spoke against the roundabout, said he believes more accidents will occur because people won’t understand how to drive around it.

He said very few people walk or bike there, and there isn’t a need for crosswalks.

Twelve-year-old David Shuer, who lives off River Road on Colby Drive, said that’s only because it’s too dangerous.

“I bet a lot more students would be riding their bikes and walking to school if there was a safe place for them to go,” he said.

 

Staff Writer Leslie Bridgers can be contacted at 791-6364 or at:

lbridgers@pressherald.com