WESTBROOK — A public meeting will be held May 3 to discuss the renovation of the Cumberland Mills traffic triangle.

The one-way traffic flow of the triangle and the street configuration will remain the same, but traffic lights will be installed to slow traffic and allow for breaks. The Cumberland Mills triangle is made up of Cumberland and Main streets and Harnois Avenue.

“What we’re trying to do is reapportion the green times for side streets,” said Eric Dudley, Westbrook’s director of engineering and public services.

Lights will be placed in four locations: where Cumberland and Main streets come together; at the intersection of Cumberland Street and Warren Avenue; where Cumberland Street and Harnois Avenue come together; and where Harnois Avenue and Main Street come together. Also, the existing light at the intersection of Forest and Main streets will be updated.  

Talks about the project first began in 2005 at the City Council level, according to Dudley. It’s taken 12 years for the project to come to fruition due to a lack of funding.

Although the total cost estimate for the project has yet to be finalized, Dudley said it’s expected to cost just over $1.7 million. The city will pay $317,000, MDOT will pay $50,000, and PACTS (Portland Area Comprehensive Transportation System) will pay over $1.4 million. The City Council signed a three-party agreement in July 2015.

The May 3 MDOT meeting will allow residents to give their input on the project and some of the ideas or concerns may be used to make design modifications. Dudley said the design is about 80 percent done right now and MDOT wants to include the public’s thoughts and ideas.

Dudley said the city discussed over a dozen different ideas before settling on the idea to add four traffic lights. This idea was chosen because it will be least disruptive to the current traffic pattern. 

“Traffic on Main Street will experience some delay compared to what you experience today,” he said. “Today you can go straight through without stopping.”

Reducing traffic build-up on the other streets in the triangle is one of the main goals of the project, Dudley said.

“What ends up happening is a lot of backups in the morning on Cumberland Street and in the afternoon the reverse happens,” he said. “People can’t get into the mainstream because the traffic is so heavy.”

Safety is also a driving factor behind the project, Dudley said. The intersection of Cumberland Street and Warren Avenue is considered a high crash location by MDOT, with 56 crashes occurring between 2013 and 2015. There has been one pedestrian death in the Cumberland Mills triangle.

“The point is to give people a better opportunity to make movement that they can’t make in this environment,” Dudley said.

Dudley was unsure of the timeline for the project, but said he hopes work can begin “this construction season.”

“We want it as quickly as possible,” he said. “It’s been a long time coming.”

The Maine Department of Transportation will host the May 3 public meeting at the Walker Memorial Library at 6 p.m.

Kate Gardner can be reached at 781-3661 ext. 125 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter: @katevgardner.

The Maine Department of Transportation will hold a meeting May 3 to discuss adding traffic lights at four points in the Cumberland Mills traffic triangle, including where Cumberland and Main streets come together.