A group of Bristol Road, Damariscotta, residents and others want the state to take a fresh look at speed limits due to safety concerns.

The road has hospital traffic and commercial traffic, but it’s also a neighborhood, Bristol Road resident Jean Moon said.

“For some people, it’s very difficult to even get in and out of their driveways,” Moon said in a telephone interview Dec. 13.

More than 600 people who live in Bristol or outside it, but support the effort, have signed a petition seeking a state study, Moon said.

According to an unsigned version that Town Manager Matt Lutkus released Dec. 11, the petition proposes a 25 mph limit from Day’s Cove to School Street; 30 mph from School Street to the Bristol line; and a 40 mph limit on Route 130 near its intersection with Bristol Road, or Route 129.

From downtown southward, the current speed limits are 25, 35 and 40 mph, Lutkus writes in his notes for a Dec. 16 selectmen’s meeting.

Any changes would be up to the state; Lutkus tells the board it doesn’t have to take a position in order for the state to review the speed limits. However, residents may ask the board for its formal support, Lutkus writes.

“Many of the residents of the section of Bristol Road in Damariscotta have expressed strong concerns about pedestrian and motor vehicle safety along this stretch of roadway ... Residents would like to see a number of changes made to slow traffic including a reduction of the posted speed limits,” the notes to the board state.

Asked about the board’s possible response to the petition, Selectmen’s Chairman Robin Mayer said Dec. 13, “I suspect the board will be in favor of a study, so that we will know once and for all if (the limits) need to be changed.”

A device the town has been using in recent years to show motorists their speed in relation to the speed limit gets taken around to different roads as speeding complaints arise; it’s on Bristol Road a lot, Mayer said.

Mayer has observed vehicles picking up speed near the Bristol line.

The petition results from a group that has gathered information, met regularly and compiled an email list, Moon said. The larger message is that people have come together out of a common concern, she said.

“It’s been a wonderful grassroots initiative.”

Selectmen on Dec. 16 were also set to hear any comments on Biscay Road’s speed limit. It, too, may become the subject of a state review and, while board action isn’t needed, Lutkus states he would appreciate hearing the board’s perspective.

“I am aware of only one person who requested that the posted speed limit on this section of roadway be reviewed,” Lutkus writes.

A Maine Department of Transportation engineer has agreed to do the study if the town formally requests it, according to the notes.

Also this week, Lutkus planned to ask selectmen to make a second try at Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding for waterline, drainage and sidewalk work on Elm Street. The letter of intent the board will consider filing does not bind the town to take the funding; it’s a precursor to an application the town could choose to submit in March, Lutkus tells selectmen.

A prior request lost out earlier this year, the notes state. “Although state officials indicated that the ... application provided a strong case for funding, both the limitations on funding ... and the competition from more economically disadvantaged areas, resulted in our application not being approved,” Lutkus writes.

The Dec. 16 board meeting was set for 5:30 p.m. at the town office.