AUBURN — A few people attended a public meeting Tuesday night to hear Maine Department of Transportation officials explain why a new turnpike interchange wasn’t in the Twin Cities’ future.
“There’s not a lot of utilization,” said Edward Hollingshead, a vice president with Fay, Spofford & Thorndike, the Boston-based engineering firm that conducted the study. “There never really came out to be a big difference at any intersection, especially when you’re talking about a $20 million project.”
Results of the Maine Department of Transportation study released last week determined that neither Lewiston nor Auburn will get a turnpike interchange nearer the downtown area. Meetings seeking public input were held this week in the Twin Cities. About five people other than the presenters attended Tuesday’s meeting in Auburn.
Hollingshead told those present that traffic engineers made their final recommendation based on several factors, including projections on traffic flow and distance and time traveled. In the end, experts agreed that a new interchange wouldn’t improve traffic in either city.
“The initial appeal was for convenience,” said Glenn Aho, Auburn city manager. “We all want to believe it would be more convenient, but the study shows that it might not be as convenient as you would like to think.”
Aho said that while he is satisfied with the findings, he only wishes that the plan had been ironed out better when the turnpike was originally built. He said that had the turnpike initially been built closer to the downtown business centers, then there would be no need to try and figure out ways to get there now.
The cities had been studying where to put a new downtown interchange for years. The Androscoggin Transportation Resource Center had settled on three plans: building new interchanges on River Road in Lewiston, on Route 136 north of the turnpike in Auburn, or on both sides of the river.
But the distances between the proposed interchanges show they would not help speed traffic downtown. Currently, northbound traffic headed downtown, exiting in Auburn must drive 4.7 miles along Washington Street to reach downtown. Northbound traffic exiting in Lewiston must drive an additional 4.5 miles between the two cities, then drive an additional 3.4 miles to reach the downtown.
“It’s all about getting from point A to point B, which is how people drive,” Hollingshead said. “Especially when you’re talking about getting to and from work.”
Hollingshead said that the biggest destinations for both cities were the hospitals because of the number of people who work there. But the study revealed that neither exchange option actually saved a considerable amount of time or distance.
A new interchange in the middle wouldn’t shave off any distance, since drivers would still need to travel nearly 3.5 miles between the Auburn and downtown interchanges, then another 3 miles along the river to reach the downtown.
Instead, highway and transportation officials plan to improve the area around the interchanges. In Auburn, a $4 million project is already under way to bring improvements to Exit 75 and the surrounding area over the next two years.
The Maine Turnpike Authority has already set aside $20 million, and the Maine Department of Transportation has earmarked $5 million with plans to ask the state for another $4 million, to build new on-ramps at Exit 80 and make other improvement to Plourde Parkway and nearby Lisbon Street. The estimated $29 million project should be completed by 2015.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Comments are no longer available on this story