According to a traffic study funded by the family that sued the Maine Department of Transportation over the downtown project, removal of Main Street parking would do little to improve Wiscasset traffic flow while severely impacting downtown businesses

None of Wiscasset’s five selectmen or the town manager attended Tuesday night’s presentation that drew a sizable crowd to Wiscasset Community Center.

Portland attorney Robert S. Hark said he was speaking on behalf of the Doering family. The Doerings paid for a traffic analysis when they filed suit attempting to halt the project in February.

“They wanted someone other than MDOT to tell us what the effects of the project might be to the downtown business community,” Hark added before introducing Chester “Rick” Chellman of TND Engineering of Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Wiscasset’s downtown traffic woes were the result of the “everything factor,” Chellman said. The size of the vehicles rolling through town, pedestrians crossing Main Street, cars pulling in and out of side streets and the grade of Main Street were all to blame, he said. Chellman said MDOT’s traffic analysis didn’t fully consider these factors or correctly model downtown traffic flows.

Chellman shared other plans for downtown Wiscasset MDOT had considered and rejected. One from October 2012 included relocating the famous Red’s Eats takeout from the corner of Water and Main streets to a grassy area beside the bridge causeway and constructing a pedestrian tunnel. Traffic engineers eventually settled on the two proposals that became known as Options 1 and 2. Residents picked Option 2.

Chellman claimed MDOT’s promise of up to a four percent improvement in traffic flow between Option 1 and 2 translates to about a 15-second reduction in delay for motorists in peak traffic times He concluded Option 2 was not the most pedestrian-friendly, is a regional-only solution, and will be bad for downtown vitality.

Hark followed up Chellman’s presentation by saying the Doerings filed the lawsuit in part because they felt strongly that the community needed to be brought into the planning process.

MDOT has been working with the Public Advisory Committee as planning continues on project details. 

Hark also reviewed details of his clients’ case which lost in court. The Doerings are appealing the decision.

Ralph H. Doering III, arranged the 90-minute presentation. In a letter sent to residents, Doering explained why his family had commissioned the traffic study. “We felt we had no choice but to invest in an independent analysis, after a citizen advisory vote in 2016. Immediately after the vote, and without first consulting our Town leaders, MDOT maneuvered to cancel the use of federal funds for the so-called ‘Downtown Improvement Project,” he wrote.

“We have offered more than once to present these findings to the Board of Selectmen, but that has not come to pass,” stated Doering adding, the meeting was an effort to share the study’s findings directly with the townspeople.