BRUNSWICK

The Cook’s Corner connector road moved one step closer to reality Tuesday when the Brunswick Planning Board gave its unanimous final approval of the project.

The road, proposed by the town, will connect Admiral Fitch Avenue in Brunswick Landing to Gurnet Road.

“Based on the conversations we’ve had with folks in the Cook’s Corner area and with folks at Brunswick Landing, this is a project that we think is timely for that area,” said Linda Smith, the town’s economic and community development director. “There’s an increase in activity.”

When the former Brunswick Naval Air Station closed, there was a concern about the impact on the community and town, she said, “and I think this is a reflection of the good progress that has been made on Brunswick Landing.”

The town is looking to pay for the road construction through the Maine Department of Transportation and tax increment financing. Smith said the hope is that the town won’t bond more than $1 million for the project, which is expected to cost $2.1 million. The town council will have to decide how to fund the project before construction begins.

Planning board member Jane Arbuckly said she’s been told by people who worked on the former base while it was fully operational that there was no problem with traffic.

However, a former police officer in Brunswick who patrolled this area of town and current town councilor, Councilor David Watson, said during the public hearing that the traffic today is different.

“They’re coming and going,” he said, adding people are visiting businesses and leaving.

There will be new homes and businesses in the area, he said, and this will allow residents in East Brunswick to get through Cook’s Corner, which there is no safe way to do now for pedestrians or bicyclists.

“It’s going to take traffic pressure off of Cook’s Corner,” he said. “It comes down to safety to me, more importantly. Safety for traffic, safety for pedestrians and safety for bicycling. This is community building.”

Councilor Allison Harris also spoke during the public hearing as a private citizen who has been using the recreation center at Brunswick Landing nearly daily for the last couple of weeks. She said she’s been surprised of the diversity of the people there and the times that they come. She’s also found herself using Forrestal Drive to get to Gurnet Road to avoid the Bath Road intersection.

“I have a sense that there will be a real community asset from this road and it’s much bigger than just making it convenient for the employers and employees on (Brunswick Landing),” she said. “It is a community destination.”

She added that traffic was backed up from Don Foshay’s Discount Tire on Bath Road all the way to Gurnet Road when she was driving east Tuesday at 1 p.m., “so again it’s just a nightmare right now.”

Smith said the new road is expected to help with traffic management and make for a better experience for motorists.

The planned road will have three 11-foot wide travel lanes, a 5-foot wide bicycle lane on both sides of the road, and a 6-foot wide sidewalk with a 6-foot esplanade on either side. Street lighting is included. The road will bring utilities to some adjacent properties.

The road will provide some access to adjacent properties north and south of the proposed road, said traffic engineer John Adams of Milone & MacBroom Inc., noting a turn lane will allow turning vehicles to wait without interrupting those trying to use the road to get out to Bath or Gurnet roads.

The town will monitor traffic counts for the point at which traffic signals will be warranted.

Adams said there will be street trees along the road on both sides — a mix of red maple and an elm-hybrid variety, and buffering spruce trees on the south side of the road.

dmoore@timesrecord.com

Road works

• THE PLANNED ROAD will have three 11-foot wide travel lanes, a 5- foot wide bicycle lane on both sides of the road, and a 6-foot wide sidewalk with a 6-foot esplanade on either side. Street lighting is included.