Topsham roundabout feasibility study contract to be considered

TOPSHAM

Taking a step closer to solving some of the traffic woes that have plagued lower Main Street, Topsham Selectmen Thursday will consider hiring a traffic engineer to study the feasibility of a roundabout in the Lower Village.

During its 7 p.m. meeting at the municipal building, selectmen will consider hiring traffic engineer Tom Errico of TY Lin International to conduct the study for $30,000. The study would examine the feasibility of constructing a roundabout at the intersection of Main and Summer streets and Bowdoin Mill Island Drive.

The Lower Village Development Committee was formed in early 2012 to look at what needs to be done to get a park in the Lower Village.

John Shattuck, the town’s economic and community development director, said access to a future park was problematic and issues on Main Street needed to be resolved — specifically the left hand turns that bunch up traffic. The committee initially thought the town would need to put in a signalized intersection at the Summer Street and Bowdoin Mill Island intersection on Main Street.

Gorrill-Palmer performed a traffic study for the Lower Village in 2012-13. The firm’s engineers looked at the whole area and told the town there was no way under state standards that a traffic light with a turning lane will fit at the intersection. The road is too narrow, according to Shattuck.

Instead, Gorrill-Palmer suggested a roundabout that could only fit at the Green Street intersection.

However, according to Shattuck, Dan Burden of the Walkable and Livable Communities Institute stated the town should present a better case to the Maine Department of Transportation for a smaller roundabout, based on a 2014 audit on the walkability of the Lower Village. It was revealed that smaller roundabouts ranging between 75- 86 feet in diameter would be more effective than the 130- foot roundabout at Main and Green streets recommended.

Following Burden’s visit and presentation in September

2014, it was announced in the spring that the Frank J. Wood Bridge between Main Street in Topsham and Maine Street in Brunswick will be either replaced or rehabilitated, kicking the town into high gear so that any roundabout project is done in collaboration with MDOT’s bridge project. Shattuck said the bridge construction may take place in 2018 or even 2017.

MDOT told Topsham officials the town may be able to save money if it hires the same engineering firm MDOT hired for the bridge project as the two projects would overlap, TY Lin International.

That firm also employs traffic engineer Tom Errico, who was named Transportation Engineer of the Year 2013 by the New England Section of the Institute of Transportation Engineers. Errico has also has been hired by Topsham to review how intersections are being managed along the Topsham Fair Mall Road for pending development projects.

Working with engineers and neighboring communities, Shattuck determined it would cost $30,000 to obtain a valid and rigorous feasibility study. In March, selectmen agreed to support half of the cost of the study, and Shattuck said Topsham Development Inc. — the town’s quasi municipal economic development arm — has agreed to pay for the other half.

Thursday, Shattuck will ask selectmen to waive the standard procurement policy and allow him to pursue a contract with TY Lin. The hope is to have the feasibility study completed over the next few months and done by the end of the year when the towns starts looking at the budget for 2016-17. The town should know what it would cost to have full engineer plans drawn up — likely in the realm of $70,000 — as well as aspects of the construction itself. If the bridge project is tackled in 2017, the town needs time to figure out if it wants to proceed with and how to fund construction of a roundabout in time for the 2016 town meeting.

“What we need to know,” Shattuck said, is how small of a roundabout will work at the Main and Summer streets intersection and the feasibility study will also satisfy the MDOT’s concern about whether the road will function properly with a roundabout.

“Our position based on four years of study is that it will function better than it does now,” Shattuck said, and certainly better than with a traffic signal shutting down traffic for 90 seconds.

A turning movement count will be conducted at the intersection during the weekday morning and night peak periods as part of the study. A field review of existing conditions in the vicinity of the project will be done and future traffic volumes developed for peak hours. A planning-level cost estimate will be prepared and a report documenting the findings of the feasibility study.

dmoore@timesrecord.com

Share this: