AUBURN — A year after a new Route 4 turning lane was made, city and state engineers are looking for drivers’ opinions about safety on the road now and suggestions for the next steps.
The city and the Maine Department of Transportation will host an informational discussion at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, June 11, at Central Maine Community College’s Kirk Hall for neighbors and users of the road.
“We don’t have designs or anything to present,” City Engineer Dan Goyette said. “It’s more an opportunity to take in everybody’s comments and thoughts; what they think will work or won’t work, and what they think are the biggest safety issues.”
Route 4 north of Auburn has long been considered a high-crash location, from Lake Auburn to the Turner town line. It had been the site of numerous crashes, with more than 14 occurring between 2011 and 2014.
Crews last summer added a turning lane at Lake Shore Drive with plans to repaint the lines and transform the four-lane road with wide shoulders to a four-lane road with a two-way center lane.
“The state is looking at what can be done to make it even safer,” Goyette said. “Can we add a roundabout there or not? And then, they are asking the same thing at Fair Street. Do we add turn lanes, do we change the way all those interconnecting streets come into Route 4 or do we put a roundabout there?”
Goyette said Thursday’s meeting is meant to get people talking and making their suggestions for the road.
“We may present some new traffic count information and crash data and that sort of thing, but we are not going to put up a plan,” he said. “We are not going to say, ‘This is what we want to do’ because we don’t know yet.”
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