The Westbrook City Council has voted to remove a raised crosswalk on Spring Street that neighboring residents complained was a nuisance because of noise.
It will be removed possibly as early as next week. The city will seek to install flashing warning lights in its place by the spring.
The council originally intended to install flashing warning lights in addition to signs and paint on the road at the time the crosswalk is removed. At a council meeting Monday, however, city staff informed the council that the lights installation probably would not take place until the spring, because approval is necessary from the Maine Department of Transportation.
The crosswalk was installed in the summer of 2005 to help people cross what has become a busy commuting route. The crosswalk is located in the area of East Valentine Street, where many people, including children, cross Spring Street to a path that leads back to the Canal School.
A second crosswalk had also been planned near Art’s Variety. The two crosswalks, while not intended as speed bumps, might have acted as such to slow drivers coming down Spring Street. The second crosswalk was never installed because the city ran into drainage problems near Art’s Variety that prevented its construction.
The city had intended to apply for a state safety grant to cover the costs of the two crosswalks, at $3,000 apiece. The city waited, however, to ask for the money, to see whether neighbors would complain that the crosswalk was a nuisance.
Since the crosswalk was built, numerous complaints about noise have been received. Neighbors say trucks traveling along Spring Street do not slow to the suggested 15 miles per hour, and create excessive noise when going over the raised crosswalk.
A driver encounters the soon-to-be-removed speed bump as the car leaves Westbrook from William Clarke Drive.Send questions/comments to the editors.
