The Maine Department of Transportation is planning a traffic signal to improve safety at this high crash intersection of Main Street and Libby Avenue in Gorham. Both Libby Avenue approaches to Main Street are posted with stop signs and flashing red lights that warn drivers to stop.

GORHAM — A dangerous intersection in Gorham is set for a remedy next year under Maine Department of Transportation plans.

State transportation officials plan a traffic signal along with other improvements costing $430,000 at the intersection of Main Street and Libby Avenue, a high crash area. Construction is slated for 2019.

“The intersection will not be shut down during construction,” Brian Nichols, MDOT project manager, said in an MDOT public hearing in Gorham last week about the project.

According to statistics released in the public hearing, 24 crashes were reported at the intersection in a two-year period 2014-2016 and previously 18 crashes 2012-2014. Accidents have included a collision of two big trucks at the intersection in February 2008, claiming the lives of both drivers.

Nichols said Tuesday that criteria for a high crash site are anything more than eight crashes in a three-year period. “That is a high crash location,” Nichols said.

Some nearby residents fear the intersection. “I’ve seen my life flash there,” Nelson Vanhorn, who lives off Libby Avenue, said in the public hearing.

Main Street is a heavily utilized commuter arterial. Libby Avenue, a collector highway that cuts across Main Street, has stop signs and flashing red lights warning drivers to stop at the intersection. Residents in the public hearing said problems arise when impatient drivers pass on the right of stopped cars waiting to turn onto Libby Avenue from Main Street.

The state has hired an engineering firm, Louis Berger of Yarmouth, to make the intersection safer. Lynn Frazier, a traffic group manager at the firm, said the design would have wider shoulders on Route 25 while Daniel Bouchard, a Louis Berger transportation engineer, said the travel lanes would remain the same.

Bouchard said improvements would include likely moving two utility poles to make room for widening, pedestrian signals, and upgrading crosswalks to be ADA compliant.

A new, improved design will work for 20 years, Frazier said.

Gorham Fire Chief Robert Lefebvre said Tuesday he believes it would be a mistake not to put in left turning lanes on Route 25 at the intersection

According to the traffic counts cited by Frazier, a sampling of a weekday from 7:15-8:15 a.m. shows 674 cars heading through the intersection towards Westbrook and another 255 towards Gorham Village. In an evening count in a one-hour sampling 4:30-5:30 p.m., 549 cars were traveling west towards Gorham Village and 254 towards Westbrook.

The counts did not include traffic turning onto Libby Avenue. Lefebvre questioned whether the traffic counts were recorded when the University of Southern Maine was in or out of session. Since the meeting, Lefebvre has learned the traffic counts were taken on June 3 and 4 of 2013. But the university spring semester ends in May.

But Nichols said this week the numbers were adjusted to reflect growth in 2017 and to reflect increased volumes seen during the USM school term.

Lefebvre said, in addition to the USM traffic, surrounding communities like Buxton and Standish also have increases in population that impact Gorham traffic.

A Shepards Way resident asked about the state’s criteria for a round-about at the intersection. But, Nichols said the traffic volume didn’t support spending $1.5 million there for a round-about.

Nichols said the planned improvements would require some additional right-of-way land acquisition. He said acquiring land would take about eight months and the process would begin soon.

Robert Lowell can be reached at 854-2577 or [email protected]