There’s no relief in sight for commuters battling traffic troubles in South Gorham as a shortfall in government highway money leaves little hope for road improvements any time soon.
The town has tried to make road improvements a condition of approval of at least one project in the area, but the developer said he doesn’t think it’s fair that Gorham wants him to pay for an intersection upgrade there.
For years, South Gorham has had its share of traffic problems. “In the morning, we have a wicked snarl up,” said South Gorham homeowner Ron Dyer, who lives on Burnham Road around the corner from the busy intersection of South Street and County Road.
An upgrade to alleviate congestion of the so-called “overlap” of routes 22 and 114 in South Gorham has been on traffic planning radar screens for years, but a lack of money has stalled plans for improvements. Roadwork for South Gorham is competing for highway money with other projects in the fast-growing greater Portland area, officials said.
Dyer said the state bought easements about 30 years ago from property owners along County Road from North Scarborough for highway improvements but the roadwork wasn’t done. “Who dropped the ball?” Dyer asked.
Town Manager David Cole said Friday that the most recent study by Maine Department of Transportation and the Portland Area Comprehensive Transportation Committee, also known as PACTS, along with the towns of Gorham and Scarborough was completed in May 2002.
As a result of the study, Gorham applied to PACTS for highway improvement, proposing the road be widened to three lanes along the overlap of the two highways. “It never scored high enough to get funded,” Cole said.
When Gorham applied for money for the project, PACTS allocated $200,000 for the Maine Department of Transportation to design highway improvements on that overlap, including the intersection of County Road and South Street.
PACTS withdrew the money for the project in May last year. PACTS Director John Duncan said 80 percent of that design money would have come from the federal government with Gorham supplying 15 percent and the state 5 percent.
Duncan said highway construction costs had “skyrocketed” since it was first conceived, and the state pegged the cost of the project at $3 million in 2004-nearly triple the original amount.
‘A half a billion short’
Dale Doughty of the Maine Department of Transportation said Monday the design was dropped because there was a lack of money for the project. The federal and state money set aside for the design was used elsewhere.
Duncan said a previous plan for a South Gorham bypass had also been shelved and it will continue to be difficult to get highway money. Duncan said the greater Portland area would need $1 billion for highway improvements in the next 20 years, but PACTS expects to be well short of that figure. “We’re half a billion short,” Duncan said.
Dyer is inviting Gorham town councilors to come to his home for coffee to see the situation in South Gorham for themselves. “It’s a mess. The bypass won’t accomplish anything in South Gorham,” Dyer said.
Dyer said the intersection at County Road and South Street, where there is a traffic signal was “terrible.”
Looking to developers for help
One possible solution being considered is tying road improvements in the area to development proposals, something at least one local developer is not happy about.
The Gorham Planning Board is requiring Hans Hansen to pay for an upgrade of that intersection as a condition for approval of his proposed $4 million commercial development next to his farm market at the intersection on County Road.
But Hansen said Monday that he believed Route 22, which is also known as County Road, is a “horse and buggy” road, not a modern highway. Hansen doesn’t feel he should have to shoulder the whole burden of upgrading the intersection. “Any business should only pay for their fair share,” Hansen said.
Hansen doesn’t believe that Gorham taxpayers should pay for the upgrade either. “This is not Gorham’s responsibility, it’s a regional problem,” Hansen said.
Bypass no help to South Gorham
Sen. Phil Bartlett, D-Cumberland County, Duncan, Doughty, Cole and another representative from the Maine Department of Transportation met Tuesday with Hansen in Cole’s office to discuss the intersection. The meeting was not open to the public.
Bartlett said last week that the meeting would be a brainstorming session about finding ways to pay for intersection improvement. Bartlett believed that intersection would face increased pressure in the future and needed to be upgraded regardless of Hansen’s project.
Town Councilor Burleigh Loveitt said the bypass, which has construction scheduled to begin in the fall of 2007, would “accelerate” the arrival of morning commuter traffic at the current County Road/South Street intersection. The bypass will connect with South Street a short distance away from the existing intersection.
Eastbound morning commuters using the Gorham Bypass from West Gorham would exit onto South Street and then travel Route 22 towards the Maine Mall, Portland Jetport, Scarborough, South Portland and Portland.
Loveitt said it’s frustrating that money earmarked for the Gorham bypass doesn’t help South Gorham. The Gorham bypass would relieve traffic congestion in downtown Gorham but doesn’t aid South Gorham, Loveitt said.
Homeowner Audrey Gerry of South Street said she “suspects” that congestion at the already troubled intersection would be worse with the bypass funneling out traffic nearby. “Everyone in this neighborhood has trouble pulling out of driveways,” Gerry said, who lives about a third of a mile from the intersection.
Putting the traffic increase in recent years into perspective, she recalled an anecdote in 1966 when her family had just moved to their horse farm on South Street. She was awakened early on a summer morning by the clip, clop of a horse’s hooves on the pavement. Dressing hurriedly and grabbing a pail of grain from the barn to entice the horse, she dashed into the street.
In those days, there wasn’t a car in sight and the horse was unharmed. “Could you imagine that today,” Gerry asked.
Gerry said the solution has to be a regional one. “They need to completely divert it around South Gorham,” Gerry said. “I’ve been yelling that for years.”
Loveitt said Gorham needs a regional solution like a turnpike spur. Dan Parady, a spokesman for the Maine Turnpike Authority, said recently that plans for a spur to Gorham weren’t moving forward at this point.
“We’re just waiting to see how things shake out,” Parady said. “We take our lead from the MDOT and they’re focusing on the bypass.”
Meanwhile, traffic is causing headaches in South Gorham. State traffic counts in 2005 show an average of about 24,300 cars per day on County Road east of South Street. That figure has increased by about 1,400 cars per day from a 2002 count of about 23,000.
On County Road west of South Street, the 2005 traffic count showed about 11,500 cars each day, a decrease from approximately 13,500 in 2002. Neighbors say some motorists use Burnham Road to skirt around the busy intersection.
Amy Borslien, a veterinarian’s assistant at the Animal Hospital of South Gorham, said of a lot of clients complain about traffic. The animal hospital is across County Road from King’s Farm Market at the intersection of Burnham Road.
Borslien said there are traffic problems both mornings and evenings. She said there’s a “solid wall” of eastbound traffic in the mornings. The evening commute is no better. “Turning left is pretty much impossible from 4 to 6 p.m.,” she said.
Borslien, who enjoys bicycling to work from South Portland, said biking is dangerous along much of the road. She said unpaved shoulders are “chewed up” and she has been nearly hit by trucks traveling narrow lanes.
Judy Richmond of Gray Road in Gorham Village, said she and her husband almost bought a home on County Road six years ago. But they looked elsewhere after seeing the heavy traffic in South Gorham. “It looks too busy. It doesn’t look like we could get in and out,” Richmond said. “At 4:30 or 5 p.m., we waited and waited.”
In commuting to Portland, Diana Brennan of North Saco likes to use Burnham Road to access County Road heading to Portland. But she said a 20-minute trip turns into 45 minutes during rush hour.
Cole said that traffic is “quite congested” in South Gorham. He said that the original estimate of $1 million to improve traffic flow has escalated to $4 million now. Cole said Gorham hasn’t withdrawn its application for a widening, but the project is realistically five to 10 years “in the future, if ever.”
Cole blames the federal government for the delay in fixing the traffic problems. “There’s a growing traffic congestion problem in Southern Maine because of woefully inadequate funding by the federal government,” Cole said.
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