WOODSTOCK — Back in April, Woodstock Town Manager Vern Maxfield said he was concerned with the sharp corner on North Main Street in front of the Bryant Pond post office where the state design called on the contractor to add more shoulder, creating a narrower street.

Don Lawrence, who owns property on the sharp curve, said the state made the problem of the dangerous curve worse, not better. His two-story apartment building was hit by motorists four times last winter.  Yet the state won’t buy it.

A few weeks ago Woodstock resident Phil Blampied wrote to Maxfield and to Region Traffic Engineer Timothy Soucie of the Maine Department of Transportation concerned about the raised median strip and the difficulty turning left from Railroad Street to Route 26 north.

Vehicles negotiate the hairpin turn June 21 on Route 26 in Bryant Pond village in Woodstock. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

Dangerous turn

Don Lawrence has owned the apartment building at 4 South Main St. on the sharp corner for about 10 years. While his building was hit four times last winter, his attorney has advised him not to say how many times it has been hit overall.

Blampied said over the years he has heard of several times that vehicles have crashed into the apartment building.

Lawrence said he agrees with 60% of the improvements the state made. He said the road is straighter and flatter and they put down new pavement. “They say that makes the road safer and I say that makes the road faster,” he said. “The turn is the turn, they didn’t do a damn thing to help the turn.”

He said drivers who have hit his building are locals. One was a tractor-trailer driver from Paris who goes by the apartment six times a night for work. Another was a West Paris pickup truck driver who “cleaned out the staircase going to the second floor apartment, which was only 11 months old from the last time I rebuilt it,” he said.

The state has installed three bollards to protect his property.

“We’ve made some improvements, said Lawrence, who has spoken with the state engineers several times and talks with the road crew almost daily.

“I’m still going to get hit,” he said. “I’m still going to have a six-month fight with the insurance company. I still haven’t been paid for the Dec. 16 accident and that was $83,000.

“If by magic my building was not there anymore, everybody who missed the turn would end up in the snowbank. Less chance of someone getting hurt and killed,” he said.

Lawrence said he offered to sell it to the state for fair market value. He would have deducted the $83,000 the insurance company owed him. “They would have had a building for $83,000 under market. They didn’t see the need to do that.”

The state has installed solar-powered, radar-monitored speed-limit signs for both lanes. Lawrence said, on his suggestion, they will move them back so motorists will have more time to slow down.

“The upgrade of the flashing beacons with radar feedback signs on each approach, along with the flush median island are the two main attempts to try and lower speeds through this corner,” Soucie said.

Vehicles negotiate the hairpin turn June 21 on Route 26 in Bryant Pond. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

Raised median

As part of the project there are raised median strips that separate north and south bound traffic. Maine Department of Transportation Director of Communications Paul Merrill, responding by email,  said, “Once surface paving is completed, the concrete island will be flush with the street so that vehicles will be able to drive over it. The finished product will allow for the same turning movements as the existing conditions do, so we have no plans to include a turn-around area.”

“If it is fixed eventually,” Blampied said, “that would be better than nothing. In the meantime, however, you have a steady instance of northbound vehicles coming out of Railroad Street, which are turning directly into oncoming southbound traffic to get past the median strip before getting back in the northbound lane. They are, in essence, playing “chicken” with oncoming traffic. So the sooner that gets flattened out, the less likely there is to be a head-on accident.

Also at issue for Blampied is how post office patrons will safely exit.

“This also prevents traffic from leaving the post office and turning left,” Blampied said. “Instead, vehicles will have to make a U-turn in the parking lot and drive back north to Lake Road, which creates complications in that parking lot which will be conducive to minor accidents,” he wrote.

Construction barrels line a section of Route 26 on June 27 in Woodstock. The Maine Department of Transportation has been making improvements to the area. Two-story house at right, owned by Don Lawrence, has been hit several times by motorists trying to navigate the sharp corner. Rose Lincoln/Bethel Citizen

Light, crosswalks

“Final paint striping on the surface pavement will help to delineate the centerline, island, edge, lines, etc. through the corner,” Merrill said. “We have already installed a new overhead flashing beacon at the corner and are planning to install more signage.”

“I know we’ve added at least one or two new crosswalk locations on this stretch, striping those will be one of the last items before the project is completed,” Soucie said.

Asked if he’s heard when the project will be completed, Lawrence said, “We are in the third year of a one-year project.”

Vehicles negotiate the hairpin turn June 21 on Route 26 in Bryant Pond village in Woodstock. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

Island pole

At an April Select Board meeting Maxfield said, “We had quite a conversation about the corner and the new pole right in the middle of the road,”

“That’s a target,” Selectman Bob McQueeney said.

The inspector is not happy with it, Maxfield said, referring to the pole getting hit. “They really should bring in a pile of poles, so they don’t have to get one every time.”

Merrill, in response to the pole issue, wrote, “The pole you mentioned was installed months ago. With the new alignment of the road, this pole is now behind a curb and sidewalk. This new alignment and configuration meet design standards. Drivers who are obeying the speed limit should have no problems safely navigating the corner.”