The Maine Department of Transportation wants to meet with Wiscasset selectmen on a couple of different traffic topics, but, for now, not about the Federal Street weight limit, an MDOT spokesman said Sept. 4.

The topics MDOT wants to discuss at an upcoming Wiscasset selectmen’s meeting include the sidewalks and traffic lights already slated for the intersection of routes 1 and 27, as well as possible traffic changes downtown to help ease congestion and improve safety, MDOT spokesman Ted Talbot said in a telephone interview Friday afternoon.

It would be premature to revisit the Federal Street weight limit before other steps have been taken, Talbot said. “We have to see what those improvements will do.”

Wiscasset selectmen talked at length Sept. 1 about how best to approach talks with MDOT, weeks after the agency decided to keep the weight limit in place; they and Wiscasset Police Chief Troy Cline also touched on the idea of asking the state to raise the limit enough to allow lighter trucks such as pickups carrying equipment; and board members gave mixed reviews to Maine District 13 Sen. Chris Johnson’s (D-Somerville) offer to get Wiscasset, Newcastle and Alna officials, other area legislators and Lincoln County Planner Bob Faunce together with MDOT to discuss the weight limit.

“(Because) both Federal Street in Wiscasset and Sheepscot Village have safety concerns about dump truck traffic, I would like to get stakeholders together to find reasonable solutions,” Johnson writes in an Aug. 28 letter to all those parties, including MDOT Commissioner David Bernhardt.

“It would be great to find alternative solutions to both communities’ concerns in a way that Wiscasset, Newcastle,  Alna and MDOT can all support,” Johnson writes.

Board Chairman Ben Rines Jr. strongly opposed Johnson’s proposal when the board took it up on Sept. 1. He favored Wiscasset having its own talks with MDOT.

On Friday, Rines said he was very pleased at the latest developments. “I think we are much more on track,” he said.

He is more than happy that MDOT wants to talk about other traffic matters in town, but at some point he wants Wiscasset and MDOT to talk about the weight limit, to ensure the safety of Wiscasset Elementary School students and others on the street, he said. “I think we owe that to the residents.”

Johnson said Sept. 4 that he had not yet received a letter from MDOT stating that the multi-town meeting he proposed will not be happening. But that’s the information he was given by Nina Fisher, MDOT’s liaison to the Legislature, he said Friday.

Asked about Johnson’s effort to arrange a meeting, Talbot noted that the lawmaker’s letter did not propose a date for one. “We can’t comment on a meeting that hasn’t been called,” he said.

Johnson said he did not expect to pursue a meeting without MDOT’s and Wiscasset’s support. But he remained hopeful for a plan, such as a possible alternate truck route, to come into being that will work for all the towns. He would not support any effort to improve one town’s situation to the detriment of another, he said.

If the selectmen’s meeting with MDOT happens at a time he can attend, he would like to, he said.

Rines said he also hoped Johnson could attend. The selectman said he was upset Sept. 1 with the direction things appeared to be going, away from Wiscasset getting to have its own talks with MDOT; but that he was feeling better after the two talked on Friday.

“I think we are in a much better spot. It was a good talk,” Rines said.