Editorial
It
is good that the Town of Gray and the Department of
Transportation work together to try new ideas to help
fix the traffic in Gray Center. The meeting held last
Friday was a testament to cooperation among Town Officials
and the DOT engineers. As anyone who has driven through
Gray at peak times in the afternoon, it is obvious
that fancy terminology labeling the intersection as
"Level F, Failed" is not necessary as commuters
use their own language to describe the situation.
As
stated at the meeting, the two-fold issues are of
volume and capacity. The engineers, Town Planner,
Town Manager, and several Councilors discussed ways
to maximize capacity. The intersection crossing from
Brown St. to Shaker Rd. is misaligned. Aligning that
may help ease some confusion, the DOT engineers said.
Making Brown St. one way, a dead end, or one way at
one end and two-way at the other end are also other
ways to increase capacity. Adding another turn lane
was briefly discussed.
The
other issue, volume, is being addressed by the DOT
now. A long-awaited solution, the Bypass, is designed,
funded, and about to break ground in spring 2005.
The Bypass is supposed to help reduce volume in the
Village Center by funneling it over a fast-moving,
low curb cut highway adjacent tot he village but not
going through it. Though by all accounts by the time
it is built it will likely be only an 8-year fix.
The
other issue of volume is one that the Maine Turnpike
Authority must come to grips with: the New Gloucester
barrier toll. Ever since that toll booth, extending
across all lanes of both the north and south bound
lanes of the Turnpike, was built, New Gloucester and
Gray have seen an astronomical increase in truck traffic.
Southbound trucks exit at Auburn, which they can do
for free, travel down Rt. 100 which is straight with
no stoplights, and get on again in Gray, which is
also free.
The
MTA denies that this is happening, but daily gridlock
in Gray, demolished roads pounded to bits by fully
loaded cargo trucks, lumber trucks, and other trucks,
and the number of organizations cropping up such as
"Fix26!" whose focus is on traffic woes,
is making it harder for MTA to deny that the problem
is the New Gloucester Barrier toll.
Only
when that barrier is removed, or the tolls adjusted
at the north and south interchanges, will be the root
of the problem, volume, be solved.
