Concept art of Route 121 in Casco features a tree-lined multi-use path, as a way to make streets safer. Contributed / Russell Preston, Principle Design

Casco has established a Safe Streets Committee, which will work to make the town’s streets safe for both drivers and pedestrians.

The committee was set up by the Select Board, originally established as an ad hoc committee, and it has since been established as a permanent part of the town government.

According to committee member Eric Dibner, the committee first came together in May 2024 to develop a street safety plan that would be supported by a Community Resilience partnership grant. In the months since, he said that their biggest accomplishment has been getting a buy-in from the Select Board on the development of sidewalks, which are nearly nonexistent in Casco. In December 2024, the board voted unanimously to approve a Complete Streets Policy, focused on improving road design with the eventual goal of eliminating traffic-related injuries and deaths.

Dibner also praised his committee’s collaboration with Casco’s Open Space Commission, thus connecting environmental and street safety issues. The commission, which was put in place by ordinance, looks at ways in which Casco can best utilize its green and open spaces, as well as ways that recreation can help protect environmental opportunities. Although Dibner noted that streets aren’t really open space in the sense of green space, he said that the commission viewed Casco Safe Streets as being tied into the possibility for travelers to be able to connect green thinking to public safety thinking. He also said that Casco will look at applying the safe street concept to the development of other projects, such as gas stations.

Casco Safe Streets has also been working with the Principle Group to help design their projects. Sarah Turner, a representative from Principle, noted that due to Casco’s rural nature, the process of developing a street policy for the town was completely different from a city such as Portland, with a lot of work being focused on trails for hiking and mountain biking. Turner described working with Casco as “fun,” praising the energy of the Safe Streets Committee, and said that Principle’s current focus is on temporary “quick-build” projects, short-term interventions designed to test possible long-term changes to roadways.

While the safe streets project is long-term, needing to look at all pedestrian roads and opportunities that the Open Space Committee wants to see, the group’s website identifies several locations and ideas for quick-build projects. These include adding stop signs at the intersection of Route 11 and Route 85 at Webbs Mills, adding crosswalks at Pike’s Corner and Mayberry Hill, turning a two-way stop into a four-way stop at the intersection of Brown Avenue and Quaker Ridge Road, and restoring the existing crosswalk in front of the Community Center. Dibner said he expected the first of these projects to be tackled would be the one at Brown Avenue and Quaker Ridge, sometime in the middle of this year.

In addition to its continued work toward making Casco safer, the Safe Streets Committee is hosting a “bike rodeo” on May 3 at the Crooked River School. The free event, which will be co-hosted with the Bicycle Coalition of Maine, will feature a bicycle safety course for children, helmet fittings and bike safety checks. Dibner said that the rodeo will give the committee the chance to not only point out to people how to be safe on the roads, but also to appreciate the value of bicycling for recreation and transportation.