Plans are in the works to realign the disjointed intersection of Anglers Road, Route 302 and Whites Bridge Road in Windham.

Currently, cars must wait at two separate stoplights on Route 302 where the two roads intersect the arterial throughway. The Maine Department of Transportation (MDOT) is working with property owners and nearby businesses to relocate Anglers Road directly across from Whites Bridge, eliminating the need for one of these stoplights. The realignment is intended to improve traffic flow and reduce accidents.

“The whole project is really oriented at creating a safer intersection,” said Town Manager Anthony Plante.

Plante said the intersection is dangerous due to poor alignment.

The realignment project has many “moving parts,” he said, and the biggest problem facing MDOT and the town is that Anglers Road is a private road. Because it is private, neither the town nor MDOT can spend taxpayers money on the realignment until a portion of the road is made public.

The MDOT is working with developer Tony Vance to create a new Anglers Road across a section of his property off Route 302, just south of where the current road sits. Vance plans in the future to create a new office/retail building on the same corner.

Residents of Anglers Road and customers of a restaurant located at the intersection use the private road daily. On Sunday mornings, there is also heavy church traffic from nearby Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church, Plante said.

Betty Buck, owner of Papa’s Food & Drink, said she is excited by the possible realignment.

“It’s an unsafe intersection at the moment and it will be beneficial to everyone to have it realigned,” she said.

Motorists, confused by the two stoplights, sometimes speed right through red lights there, she said. She has also witnessed accidents as a result of the disjointed intersection.

MDOT lists the realignment as an “important” project in their 2008-2009 work plan. But lack of federal funding may affect the start date, Plante said. Other projects in Windham and nearby towns were postponed this year due to lack of federal money.

“Southern Maine has done very well in recent years,” Plante said. “But when you get used to that for so long, not having that funding hurts.”

Plante said MDOT is not seeking any “matching fund” contribution from the town for the realignment. MDOT could not be reached by press time.

MDOT will be holding a public forum on the realignment project at 6 p.m. on Jan. 19 at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church.

Traffic waits to pass through stoplights at Whites Bridge Road and Anglers Road intersections. The Maine Department of Transportation plans to relocate Anglers Road and realign the intersection in the future.