Change doesn't always turn out for the best. And sometimes doing nothing about a problem, such as Wiscasset's summer bottleneck on Route 1, has the saving grace of not making it worse.

But the Maine Department of Transportation is still willing to try to make it better. The agency is looking to get on the agenda for a selectmen's meeting to talk traffic.

The bypass idea came in with the poodle skirt, reemerged over the decades and went back into the cedar chest.

Some in Wiscasset and Edgecomb were relieved their properties would neither be impacted nor taken; others lamented the lost shot at relief from traffic that moves at a car length.

MDOT also explored a possible waterfront project including a pedestrian underpass. Red's Eats chose not to move, and, to the disappointment of some who envisioned a boost to the downtown, MDOT set aside the idea.

More recently, Federal Street residents and Wiscasset Elementary School got a reprieve from the prospect of big trucks using the street to get to Route 1 when MDOT decided to keep the street’s weight limit as-is.

One change is on the way: The new sidewalks and traffic lights at routes 1 and 27 could start to be built this fall and will be completed next spring, MDOT Spokesman Ted Talbot said Sept. 4.

MDOT wants to go over the project with selectmen and bring up new ideas aimed at easing congestion and improving safety downtown, Talbot said.

Another MDOT official has said the downtown ideas would not be as glamorous as the one that involved moving Red's Eats, but that they could help traffic flow and pedestrian safety. Possible changes involving traffic patterns, parking and sidewalks were all being mulled.

If history serves, some ideas will be better-received than others; some or all of them may come to nothing, like the bypass and the underpass. Or maybe the concepts will become projects that put more go in the stop-and-go traffic.

When the MDOT officials come to town, let's hear them out, and go from there. And as we say good-bye to another summer of the same on Route 1, let’s thank them for continuing to try.