Signage and aesthetics, including sidewalk construction, will be the focus of the Maine Department of Transportation’s downtown project over the summer.

“In a nutshell these two pieces are going to be the most complicated,” Project Manager Ernie Martin told the Public Advisory Committee Monday evening. Martin said highway regulatory and safety signs couldn’t be changed. “There’s certainly some flexibility as far as what type of directional signs you might want,” he said. These include signs directing people to the waterfront and boat launch, points of interest, restrooms, off-street parking and RV parking.

Signs directing motorists on lane use will be attached to overhead traffic signal posts. Signs prohibiting motorists from making a right turn on a red light will be added at both the Middle and Water street intersections.

Committee members will meet with Martin at 6:30 a.m., Friday, June 23, for a walking tour to review sign locations. The police chief and public works director will be invited to attend and offer their suggestions.

Kent Cooper, an MDOT landscape architect, showed different brick styles the town could choose from on the Main Street sidewalks. “One complaint about brick is they tend to ice up in the winter,” he said. The town could also choose to add sidewalk lighting. “There are many different styles of street lamps and almost all of them are equipped with energy efficient LED fixtures and adjustable illumination patterns,” added Cooper.

Metal or wooden park benches, bicycle racks and planting beds could be added as well. “We’re only making you aware of these. They’re purely for discussion,” he said.

At present the town has trees downtown with bricks around them. “The trees are getting bigger and the bricks are starting to heave. You might want to consider replacing them with wells and a metal grate surrounding them,” Martin suggested.

Cooper said bollards will be erected on both sides of Main Street to control pedestrian traffic. The town could choose between granite posts and metal ones. Sidewalk railings would be fabricated from steel designed to meet Americans with Disabilities Act standards.

Martin said the new Railroad Avenue sidewalk didn’t have to be brick-surfaced. “You could have either asphalt or concrete.”  Martin added, for safety purposes the state was going to erect a fence between the sidewalk and railroad tracks. He said the state typically erects a black chain-link fence but the style could be discussed at a later date.

At the meeting’s outset, Town Manager Marian Anderson addressed what she said were inaccuracies contained within a mailing directed at the MDOT project. She said the warrant article concerning the downtown project was inserted as it was written on the petition. “It wasn’t modified in any way.”

Adding parking meters was discussed, but no decision was made. The discussion on limiting or removing parking at the post office had nothing to do with the MDOT project, Anderson added.