River Road – a 12-mile state road connecting Windham to Westbrook – lives up to its name.
Like a river, the winding road rolls and bends with enough hills and sharp turns to spill any commuter’s morning coffee. But, regardless, each day hundreds of cars speed down the road on their way to and from work.
Prompted by a letter by a Boy Scout and a recent death on River Road, the town of Windham has requested that the Maine Department of Transportation (MDOT) review current speed limits on the interconnector.
Heading north from Westbrook, the speed limit changes from 45 mph to 50 mph and back down to 30 mph approaching Route 302. However, residents and town councilors alike say many motorists exceed these speed limits on a daily basis.
“People come down through and don’t pay attention to signs,” says Glenn Libby, an 80-year resident of River Road. “People can only go so fast without losing control.”
Libby remembers when the Windham/Westbrook connector was just a dirt road. Over time and with paving and improvements to the road, commuters have gotten in the habit of using River Road instead of Route 302 for their daily commute, Libby said, and the road just isn’t built for the amount of traffic it receives.
Lowering the speed limit is bound to make the road safer, Libby said. On Dec. 6, his longtime friend Winfred Strout, of Windham Center Road, was struck and killed by a passing motorist while waiting to cross River Road after dropping off charity proceeds at Libby’s house. He believes the road’s high speeds may have played a role in his friend’s accidental death.
The month before Strout’s death, Boy Scout Zachary Morse, son of Town Councilor Carol Waig, submitted a letter to the town council with concerns about safety on River Road.
“The road is bumpy with many pot holes, it is very narrow and the speed limit is too high for the road,” Morse wrote. “There needs to be more street lights lighting up the road, the visibility is very poor in the dark. It is dangerous for school buses to travel on as well as for bicyclists and people who are walking along the road.”
While Morse submitted the letter for his “Citizenship in the Community” merit badge, the message – compounded by the reality of Strout’s death – reaffirmed many of the town councilors’ own beliefs which they expressed before formally giving the town manager approval to request a speed limit review.
“If we can get people to think Windham is not a place to speed, we may save lives,” said Councilor David Tobin at the recent council meeting.
Tim Dolby, owner of Dolby Funeral Chapel on River Road, is in favor of the speed limit reduction, but says, even with the posted 30-mph limit near his business, motorists still speed by.
“The bottom line here is that we have a 30 mph limit and the majority of people don’t use that speed limit,” Dolby said. “The traffic isn’t so much the problem. It’s more the rate of speed they move at.”
Dolby has witnessed two serious pedestrian accidents just outside his funeral home, both of which occurred this time of year. He’s also witnessed numerous automobile accidents and “fender-benders” as well as many near misses.
He worries for his own customers who sometimes must park in an overflow lot across the street and walk a crosswalk to attend funerals.
River Road is a “dangerous street,” he said, especially due to numerous knolls that create “blind spots” for drivers.
Judy Quimby, owner of Thayer’s Store on River Road, says “almost nobody does the speed limit” driving past her store, also in a 30-mph zone. She worries for customers that walk to her store from surrounding neighborhoods. She says some drivers have difficulty exiting onto River Road from her store because of speeding motorists.
She, too, would like to see the speed reduced, but “unless they’re enforced, it won’t do any good.” Police have done a good job in the past to catch speeders, she said, and the mere presence of police cruisers on the road makes other motorists slow down.
With the town’s formal request, the MDOT must review the appropriateness of speed limits on River Road. However, now that the town has invited a review, MDOT can decide to raise or lower or keep the speed limits the same.
Bruce Munger, Southern Region Traffic Engineer for MDOT, said the department was aware of speed concerns on River Road, but needs a request from the town to perform a review.
The department uses radar data to make their assessment of speed limits, Munger said, by calculating the “prudent driver speed,” or how fast or slow 85 percent of motorists drive in the speed zone.
There are a total of six speed zones on River Road and they were last reviewed in February of 1998, Munger said.
MDOT planned to begin reconstruction of River Road next spring, but that project has been deferred due to lack of federal funding. The department says the road reconstruction is a “priority for the region” and hopes to include it in their 2008-2009 work plan. The reconstruction may also be “phased in” over time as funding becomes available.
A video that explains the speed limit review process is available to the public. Anyone interested in receiving a copy can call the MDOT Scarborough office at 885-7000.
Motorists speed down winding River Road, which connects Windham to Westbrook, during the morning commute. The town of Windham has requested that the Maine Department of Transportation review current speed limits on the road.Send questions/comments to the editors.
