TOPSHAM

Changes to the Main, Winter and Elm street intersection in Topsham aimed at easing congestion are becoming permanent.

That was the unanimous decision made by Topsham selectmen on Thursday.

The town began a test in September to effectiveness of the changes, which are:

• Left turns from Main Street onto Winter Street have been prohibited.

• The last block of Winter Street, approaching Main Street, was made one-way.

• Left-turning vehicles have been redirected 250 feet north to the intersection of Main and Elm streets, where there is already a left turn lane and left turn signal.

Town Manager Rich Roedner said the town was contacted 61 times via email or phone about the changes, with 42 in support and 19 in opposition.

He noted that before the changes, Winter Street was seeing an average of 2,500 vehicles a day traveling 26 miles per hour. After the changes were made, the traffic count dropped to an average of 1,000 trips a day with an average speed of 27 miles per hour.

Select woman Ruth Lyons said she’s watched the traffic flow around the intersection and the changes seem to be working. Change is hard, she said, but believes it has moved traffic off Winter Street onto Monument Place and Summer Street.

Selectman Roland Tufts

said it seems to be a smoother ride through Main Street. Part of the goal was to help relieve traffic congestion on Main Street.

Pedestrian safety

On another traffic-related issue, Yvette Meunier of Prospect Street presented a letter signed by 57 residents regarding pedestrian safety concerns on Maple Street.

Residents want selectmen to consider constructing sidewalks along Maple Street, from the intersection with Bridge Street to the entrance to the Androscoggin Brunswick Topsham River Walk on Summer Street.

Selectman David Douglass said the issue would be considered as part of the annual budget process.

Pot pause

No one from the public spoke during the public hearing on the proposed draft warrant for a special town meeting on Dec. 6. Selectmen unanimously voted to move the warrant as proposed to address three articles.

At that meeting, Topsham voters will consider an emergency moratorium on medical marijuana storefronts. They will also consider adopting a second six-month moratorium on retail marijuana establishments and stores and retail marijuana social clubs. The town adopted the first six-month moratorium in May and can only extend it another six months.

Douglass said if the state still doesn’t have rules in place by the end of a second moratorium, he’d support an outright ban of the retail marijuana uses until the town knows how the state will regulate them.

Topsham voters will also be asked to consider changes to the town code to allow official business directional signs in colors other than green. The state and federal government have developed new rules requiring blue sign backgrounds.

Elections, recognition

On Thursday, Douglass was re-elected selectmen chairman. William Thompson was again voted vice chairman.

Don Russell, a former planning board member, selectman and member of various town committees, was recognized Thursday as the 2017 Northern New England Chapter of the American Planning Association Citizen Planner of the Year award recipient.

dmoore@timesrecord.com

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