WESTBROOK – A second public meeting next week will continue talks on how to fix what is considered a dangerous intersection.

On Wednesday, April 10, at 6 p.m., a representative from the Maine Department of Transportation will come to the Highland Lake Grange to hear more from residents about what they want to see at the intersection of Route 302 and Duck Pond and Hardy roads.

“It’s a real serious matter, it’s a real important matter,” said City Councilor Mike Sanphy this week. “Someone could get killed up there.”

Sanphy, a vigorous proponent of changing the traffic patterns on the road, said he’s seen issues with visibility in the area, including trucks parked half on the road, making it dangerous enough to pass that a police cruiser stopped and used its lights to alert drivers of the road obstacle.

The issue has been ongoing for several months. In January, Sanphy, Mayor Colleen Hilton, City Administrator Jerre Bryant and State Rep. Ann Peoples met with Steve Landry of the Maine Department of Transportation to talk about installing a traffic light at the intersection. Last September, about 30 residents attended a meeting at the Highland Lake Grange Hall, which is within sight of the intersection in question, to talk about the problem. No definitive solutions came out of those meetings, though the possibility of a roundabout being installed at the intersection instead of a traffic light was discussed.

Sanphy said a roundabout would be more costly than a traffic light, and would provide no pedestrian access to cross the road.

“The Duck Pond intersection has pedestrians crossing frequently from the Farm Lakes subdivision and also from Hardy Road to the store, and the Highland Lake Church, as well as pedestrians from Bridgton Road and Duck Pond Road crossing to the Highland Lake Grange,” Sanphy said.

Snowmobiles also cross in the winter to get gas and then go back into the fields and trails.

“The cost of a traffic light is somewhere in the vicinity of $100,000,” he said. “As a taxpayer in this tight economy, there is no doubt in my mind which way to go. A traffic light is the most logical solution in solving the problems at this intersection financially and functionally.”

School Superintendent Marc Gousse said he hasn’t heard many complaints about the area but he fully supports anything the experts say will make the intersection safer.

An accident at the intersection of Route 302 and Duck Pond and Hardy roads in Westbrook highlighted the area’s traffic issues, Councilor Mike Sanphy said. Courtesy photo