ARUNDEL — Representatives from the Maine Department of Transportation were on hand Thursday evening at the Mildred L. Day school to present a plan to reorganize the intersection of Route 111, New Road and Old Alfred Road near the Arundel-Biddeford border.

The new plan would involve diverting Old Alfred Road west to meet New Road, reducing the intersection from four directions to three, and converting the bypass lane to a dedicated central turn lane. Several dozen residents attended and weighed in on the proposal.

Both residents and the MaineDOT representatives agreed the intersection in question is a problem. Currently, Old Alfred Road and New Road meet in a wide, V-shaped section of pavement with route 111 that encloses a business and parking lot. There are stop signs for both streets, but no signal on route 111.

The DOT representatives noted that the crash rate per year was around double that of average intersections, with 16 crashes occurring there since 2008. The high number of cars that travel along route 111 ”“ around 20,000 ”“ made the intersection a priority for the DOT. The project is currently budgeted for $765,000, which the department has not

yet secured.

Residents voiced several concerns, including worries that drivers would continue to ignore formal rules and take shortcuts through Holly’s gas station or St. Ours and Sons Electric.

Dan St. Ours, whose business abuts the intersection, was concerned that eliminating the passing lane on the slope leading out of Biddeford ”“ colloquially referred to as “road rage hill” ”“ would create a dangerous race to merge.

“The turning lane isn’t going to deter people (either),” St. Ours said.

However, leaders from the DOT stated that any improvement involves compromises and would be significant for the safety of the area.

“Today there is no definition to anything there,” Luther Yonce of the MaineDOT said. “The definition we’re going to leave behind is all going to be marked and that’s a step above what is there today.”

Bob Carrell of the MaineDOT, the project manager for the intersection work, was optimistic about the process.

“I thought it went fairly well,” Carrell said. “There were concerns and we will address them; there were also things we can’t do, which I think people realize.”

There will be several more periods of public comment before the plan is accepted, and the earliest construction could begin on the revamped intersection would be 2017. DOT officials noted that the contract would stipulate that two lanes on Route 111 be open, with a maximum five-minute stopping period for moving equipment.