Multiple municipal offices, as well as school leaders and town officials, have collaborated to create a new traffic pattern for the portion of Access Road that connects Ballpark Road and the Gorham High School parking lot.
In an effort to address parking, safety, and traffic patterns, the Gorham Town Council’s Capital Improvement Projects/Economic Development Committee examined options for the heavily congested area, which provides access and parking for Baxter Memorial Library; the Municipal Center, including the School Department’s Central Office and Gorham Parks and Rec; Gorham High School; a cooperative preschool; athletic fields; and the recently revitalized and heavily utilized phase 1 of Robie Park. Town and school staff, as well as interested community members, offered creative solutions, and a drone was used to better understand the traffic patterns and issues. Town engineer Chuck Norton was then tasked with drafting a plan for consideration.
Norton, a Scarborough native with extensive training and experience in civil and transportation engineering, went to work. He considered slowing traffic and rerouting away from the corner of Morrill Avenue and South Street, where the daily backup during school dismissal time was a frustration. Additionally, he looked at signage, crossing traffic patterns, and ways for slowing traffic on the heavily congested footprint. For a solution, he looked to the intersection of Access Road and Narragansett Street (Route 202) to take on more of the traffic exiting the area, noting the better sight lines and higher speed limit that naturally creates more gaps between traveling cars into which traffic can merge.
What emerged as the lowest-cost and best plan included making the segment of roadway that travels along the left outfield of the softball field and by the entrance of the cooperative preschool a one-way street, allowing only cars traveling from Ballpark Road and the Municipal Center parking lot to traverse. In addition, diagonal parking spaces were added along the left side of the roadway, slowing traffic and increasing parking by an estimated 10 spaces that can be shared by the high school and preschool.
High school principal Brian Jandreau sent a notice and a map to all GHS students and families in August apprising all of the new traffic pattern as part of his back-to-school message. As of Sept. 1, his administrative team had no complaints about the new pattern.
Norton praised the town’s and schools’ effort to collaboratively seek solutions, noting, “It is a difficult and complex site, and we are working within the parameters we have and chipping away at the edges” of the problems the site presents. Public Works placed a roadside sign warning drivers of the new traffic pattern, and to date it seems that there is broad compliance. Norton has not received any criticism for the change in the traffic pattern. He said the biggest message he hopes to convey is, “Just slow down. I’ve studied this extensively, and increasing your speed doesn’t significantly impact your arrival time, but it can significantly impact safety.”