The state has plans for a rotary at the Buxton intersection where Portland and Broadturn roads link with Route 22. Pictured above is a view from Portland Road. Robert Lowell / American Journal
The state has plans to spend $2.6 million to reconstruct a historically hazardous intersection in Buxton.
The Maine Department of Transportation is planning a rotary at the intersection of Broadturn and Portland roads and Route 22, a heavily traveled highway for commuters bound for Gorham, Scarborough, South Portland and Westbrook.
The construction project won’t cost Buxton taxpayers, according to Select Board Chairman Mark Blier.
“That is a state road and they will be paying for the improvements,” said Blier, who also is a state legislator in House District 138. He believes construction would start sometime next year.
The MDOT work plan describes the project only as intersection reconstruction and highway rehabilitation. An MDOT spokesman did not respond to an American Journal email inquiry for further details before the newspaper’s Wednesday deadline.
The state made the intersection a four-way stop in October of 2021. Before that, a three-way stop was in place. Eastbound traffic on Route 22 had the right of way and could motor through.
The intersection was dropped from the MDOT’s list of high-crash intersection for the three-year period ending in 2023, but previously had been included. It had eight accidents and one injury for the thee-year period ending in 2022, according to MDOT, 12 with six injuries in 2021, 16 with eight injuries in 2020, 17 with nine injuries in 2019 and 12 with five injuries in 2018.
Steve Madore lives on Broadturn Road right at the intersection and said evening rush hour traffic to Buxton from Gorham is always backed up along Route 22 leading into the intersection.
“I believe a roundabout would be beneficial to keep traffic moving freely,” Madore said Tuesday.
Madore doesn’t know what impact a rotary project might have on his property, if any, but he said he has been contacted by MDOT seeking permission to take a sample of his well water.
High-crash Buxton intersections listed for the three-year period ending in 2023 are Main Street and River Road with 19 accidents and eight injuries; Long Plains (Route 22) and Parker Farm roads, nine and five injuries; Long Plains Road and Sokokis Trail (Route 35) where Bonny Eagle Middle School is located, eight and zero injuries; and Brewster Place, Narragansett Trail (Route 202) and Old Orchard Road, nine with three injuries.
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