BRUNSWICK — One of Brunswick’s most congested intersections will be getting some attention in coming years.

Residents have one more opportunity to weigh in on proposed changes to the intersection of Stanwood and Pleasant Streets tonight at a final public meeting with the Maine Department of Transportation. 

The town has been looking at ways to improve safety and traffic flow at the intersection for years, said Paul Merrill, public information officer for the MDOT, and “anyone who drives through there knows has congested it gets.”

The intersection between Stanwood and Pleasant Street is one of the busiest in Brunswick, behind Cook’s Corner and the intersection of Maine and Mill streets, said Brunswick Police Cmdr. Mark Waltz.

Nearly 30,000 cars drive on Pleasant Street each day, according to Merrill. 

Two options are being presented Wednesday evening. The first would eliminate the left-hand turn onto Pleasant Street from Stanwood Street, Merrill said, and the other would extend the barrier going west toward the interstate so that drivers would have to wait longer before merging into the right-hand lane. The latter proposal would essentially extend the current plastic barriers and make them more permanent, he said. 

The current plan, according to project manager Ernie Martin, is to go with the second option, but if they find that drivers are not obeying the laws when merging and try to move into the right lane too quickly (in order to turn right on River Road), then they will eventually go to the first option and take the left from Stanwood away.

Merrill said the department is aware that eliminating the turn altogether may be an unpopular decision, but that it is still on the table because “safety-wise that option makes sense.”

“There’s no solution that pleases everyone,” Waltz said, noting that while the intersection is busy, there are not as many crashes as might be expected. According to MDOT crash data, since 2015 there have been just under 50 crashes in the vicinity where Mill, Pleasant and Stanwood streets intersect.

The project is expected to cost roughly $1 million, including the cost of paving. It’s still early on in the process, Merrill said, and the project likely will not be advertised until 2022.

In 2018, the Department of Transportation installed a temporary stoplight at Mill and Pleasant Street to stop Mill Street traffic at the intersection that previously had yielded to traffic turning onto Pleasant Street from Stanwood Street, The Times Record reported at the time. The light was removed in June to better move U.S. Route 1 southbound traffic.

Following the removal of the traffic signal on Mill Street, the town re-installed yield signs on Mill and placed traffic cones on Pleasant Street to maintain separation between the southbound Route 1 traffic and the traffic turning left from Stanwood Street, Town Manager John Eldridge told the town council recently. He said part of the reason the state was looking to make improvements was to enhance that separation and to accommodate larger vehicles coming from Stanwood. 

Police said traffic turning left off Stanwood should be turning into the closest lane when they traverse the intersection – which is the inside lane.  

“This is the reason for the rumble strip and solid white line which divide the Pleasant Street travel lanes in the area of the intersection,” the June notice stated. “Cones have temporarily been added to the white line in an effort to remind drivers.” 

Waltz said Tuesday that right now, traffic in that area is working “as smoothly as it ever has,” and that he can usually hear cars honking at other drivers from the police station, but that the “current measures keep traffic moving.” 

The meeting is 6 p.m. Wednesday at the town hall. 

hlaclaire@timerecord.com

This story has been updated to include comments from Project Manager Ernie Martin. 

Comments are not available on this story.