BANGOR, Maine — A traffic study is targeting a dangerous span of Broadway, stretching from Center Street to Grandview Avenue.
Nearly 25,000 vehicles traverse the span daily, according to Thomas Errico, traffic engineering director for T.Y. Lin International, which is conducting the study. The section of road serves several stores and restaurants.
Thus far, the study shows a total of 267 crashes from 2011 to 2013 in the target area, 186 at intersections and 81 on road segments between intersections.
“Being a high-crash location, there’s some responsibility for the municipality, as well as the [Maine Department of Transportation] to look at trying to reduce crashes in that location, because it’s a safety concern,” Errico said during a public meeting on Feb. 12.
The traffic study has been ongoing for three months and is slated for completion in May. Errico said the end result will be recommendations for the Department of Transportation to improve the road.
Those will include short-term solutions such as signal coordination and turn restrictions as well as long-term solutions such as possible roundabouts.
Errico said the recommendations will be comprehensive, looking at automotive, pedestrian and bicycle traffic.
“To be quite honest, there isn’t enough room on Broadway for bike lanes,” he said, suggesting possible bike routes around the busy road.
Thursday’s meeting drew business owners from along the corridor. Some said they are hopeful the changes will slow traffic and provide better turning access.
“There are a lot of good ideas, but it’s going to take some time and some money,” said Ed DePhilippo, owner of The Coffee Pot Sandwich Shop.
Funding the recommended projects — the last of which won’t be slated for completion until 2035 — will depend on the Department of Transportation, Errico said.
The Department of Transportation is conducting the study. Costs of the study are being shared by the Department of Transportation at $1,500, the federal highway department at $6,000 and the city of Bangor at $7,500.
In other matters, City Engineer John Theriault said the city will host a meeting from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday in the auditorium of William S. Cohen School.
The purpose of the meeting will be to get public input on the possibility of allowing left turns from Interstate 95 Ramp 186 onto Stillwater Avenue.
“It looks like it should have a minimal amount of impact,” he said.
According to Theriault, a questionnaire sent with residents’ sewer bills in 2013 showed about 83 percent of respondents supported allowing left turns there.
Left turns were prohibited when the ramp opened, he said, out of concern that it would direct traffic into residential areas.
Follow Evan Belanger on Twitter at @evanbelanger.