A meeting held Monday at the Wiscasset municipal building was billed to provide information about public safety just as the new traffic light at Route 27 became fully operational.

The Maine Department of Transportation’s plan for downtown currently includes two more traffic lights to permit pedestrians to cross Route One safely, as well as to add an additional traffic lane for turning traffic onto side streets.

Business owners who came had many questions about why three traffic lights are needed, and also had concerns about Wiscasset’s ability to fight fires downtown if a change to increase the width of the north side sidewalk goes into effect. Chief T.J. Merry said that the ladder truck already does not reach the roofs of buildings on Main Street, and that, if fires occur in those buildings, Bath and Gardiner come to assist.

“Will the Bath and Gardiner trucks be able to reach the roofs if the sidewalk is that much further out into the road,” Sharon Mrozinski, owner of Marston House, asked.

“I don’t know,” Merry replied.

“I think that’s important to know,” she said. Merry agreed.

Mrozinski also questioned why lights were needed, and why traffic control officers or even high school students in the summer couldn’t control traffic as crossing guards. Police Chief Jeff Lange said he would have grave reservations about putting teenagers into that role. “I understand that when it was tried before, the students were simply ignored,” he said. “It’s a very busy road, and I wouldn’t want to put them at risk.”

He pointed out that traffic control is the most dangerous job a police officer can do. Lang said there was a chance to hire a community officer using a three-year federal grant that would pay 75 percent of the costs. But the town would have to pick up the remainder, and agree to keep the position in the budget for an additional three years. The officer would be able to help with traffic control, issue jaywalking tickets, and be a downtown liaison for residents, businesses and the schools. 

Other issues also came up, including continuing unhappiness about the loss of parking spaces, and the fact that the traffic lanes will go down from 12 feet, which Ernie Martin of MDOT said is the standard, to 11 feet, which is inches wider than the town’s fire trucks and ambulances. Merry, however, said that many of the town’s streets are already narrower than the standard. “Our guys and gals just have to take their time and go a little slower on those roads,” he said.

The new traffic light will help fire and emergency vehicles get around. There is a button that can be activated which will cause the lights on Route One to stay green to allow emergency vehicles to get through while other traffic is stopped, Merry said.

The other issue involved large, boat-towing vehicles coming from across the bridge to be able to turn onto Water Street to get to the harbor. Martin thought the best solution would be to change the traffic pattern on the south side of Water Street to be one-way toward the harbor, while Middle Street would be one-way toward Route One. Lange said that would be supplemented by signs that forbid trucks from other side streets from trying to get onto Route One further to the west.

In response to a question, Martin said the plan as envisioned would definitely be safer and would eventually improve mobility downtown. “But Wiscasset won’t change dramatically,” he said. “It hasn’t changed in 200 years, and this won’t change it now.”

Martin said he had a lot of good ideas from the public, and thanked attendees. “I think we can tweak this plan with your help,” he said. He encouraged people to get involved in the Public Advisory Committee meetings which will begin soon. Town Manager Marian Anderson said selectmen will begin to review applications at the meeting on Oct. 18.