The Maine Department of Transportation is looking to bring a little bit of Florida to the intersection of routes 1 and 27 in Edgecomb. The department is proposing installing a Florida T, which provides acceleration and deceleration lanes for left-turning traffic. Senior Project Manager Ernie Martin explained the department’s proposal is in the preliminary engineering phase and would likely be completed by July 2019. Martin explained the proposal’s conceptual design during the June 5 Edgecomb selectmen’s meeting.

MDOT has closely monitored traffic flow and accidents at the intersection since 2015. Traffic studies show the intersection as being one of the most heavily traveled and accident prone in the state. Martin reported at peak times 14,000 cars daily use the intersection with 5,000 coming from the Boothbay region. The intersection is also rated as a high crash location based on state accident reports. MDOT assigns a critical rate factor for determining an intersection’s safety. The Edgecomb intersection has an approximate 3.46 rating which exceeds acceptable state limits, according to Martin.

“Anything above one is high so this is way above that,” he said. MDOT data shows the busy intersection has a lot of low impact, rear end accidents. Martin attributed the high rate to uncertainty caused by motorists trying to gauge Route 1 traffic traveling east to west.

“Cars get backed up on (Route) 27 looking for a gap in Route 1 traffic. What happens is they look both ways, think there’s a little gap, hit the gas, stop,  and the person behind them rear ends them,” he said.

The Florida T would alleviate traffic congestion on Route 27 by adding a protected right lane allowing motorists heading toward Wiscasset to merge with other motorists heading east. Martin explained there would be an island separating the eastward traffic so they would only need to avoid traffic heading west to safely merge with Route 1 traffic.

Martin is confident the proposal will receive state funding for the 2018-19 budget due to the high crash location rating. Martin didn’t have any projected construction costs, but he estimated the project wouldn’t be expensive and construction would begin in spring 2019 and completed by July 1, 2019.

Martin will further update selectmen in late July or early August. He will bring more literature describing how a Florida T performs in other locations around the country. Martin may also play a video showing how motorists use a Florida T merging with oncoming traffic.  Martin reported there is a small learning curve in using a Florida T, but studies show it improves traffic safety. Maine has one Florida T. It is located at Exit 109 in Augusta.