Over the last few months the Wiscasset Planning Office has been working with Lincoln County, the Maine Department of Transportation and Route 1 stakeholders to develop a master plan that will help the town expand economic development opportunities along Route 1 in the commercial area.

There will be public informational meeting, Wednesday, March 20, at 7 p.m. at Wiscasset Town Office for those who are interest in the Route 1 master plan. The meeting will provide background on the planning process, a summary of existing and projected conditions of the Bath Road, as well as discussing potential strategies to encourage economic development opportunities.   

According to Wiscasset Planner Misty Parker, Wiscasset and MDOT face significant challenges in the Bath Road corridor. For many years, the town’s and the state’s plans for Route 1 assumed that a village bypass would eventually be developed. With the cancellation of bypass planning due to costs and permitting constraints, it is now time for the town and MDOT to re-examine the Bath Road corridor.

Re-examining the corridor would help in developing a master plan that addresses MDOT’s goals of maintaining Route 1’s mobility and safety and Wiscasset’s goals of increasing its commercial tax base and job opportunities for its residents while managing traffic along the highway, according to Parker.

Route 1 in Wiscasset faces a number of challenges, which oftentimes becomes a barrier to economic development, according to Parker. With the failing intersections operating at a near failing level of service, this becomes a challenge to medium to large scale businesses looking to develop, or if the developments anticipate traffic generation will cause for intersection level of service to fail. The developer is faced with paying an impact fee for improvements to be made to the Bath Road.

“Through the master plan study we are analyzing these types of conditions and looking at proactive recommendations to alleviate some of those barriers,” Parker said. “Understanding that some recommendation may be more costly than others, the master plan will also provide some estimates, financing opportunities and other considerations.”

For more information, please contact Parker, Wiscasset Town Planner, at 207-882-8200 ext 106.

Charlotte Boynton can be reached at 207-844-4632 or cboynton@wiscassetneewspaper.com.