City Pondering How to Deal With Congested Intersection

ELLSWORTH — If Ellsworth is the crossroads of the Downeast, then the intersection of Main and Water streets is the nexus.

Motorists coming into town from Bucksport or the Blue Hill Peninsula must tackle it.

To that end, the city is exploring whether the traffic signal could be tweaked to help traffic flow to reduce the time people spend waiting to make left turns onto State Street or Water Street.

“It’s a light that we’ve had no idea what to do with because it’s not an automated system like the new lights are up on Myrick Street,” City Manager Michelle Beal said.

Beal explained that in the morning traffic gets backed up on Bridge Hill. The afternoon is Main Street’s turn. During the after-work hours of 4 to 6 p.m., Water Street traffic backs up.

“So much of it is left turns,” said Beal. “You get one person trying to make a left onto Water Street who will just sit through multiple lights,” Beal said.

The Maine Department of Transportation won’t allow a dedicated left turn signal for Main or State streets because it says it will back up traffic, she said.

So, the city is gathering data to see if it can prove that the dedicated left signal would not cause a traffic problem.

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