WESTBROOK — Donald Laroche has become a regular at City Hall – on a singular mission – in the 10 years since his wife was struck and killed by a van while crossing Main Street in the Cumberland Mills traffic triangle.
On Monday night, he and his late wife, Holly Laroche, were on the minds of councilors as they unanimously voted to support installing traffic signals at four intersections in the triangle.
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“He has persistently come to City Hall on a regular basis to express his support and seek resolution to this intersection,” City Councilor Mike Foley said of Laroche, whom he asked councilors to think about before casting their votes.
“I feel it’s a tremendous improvement to that area to support this project,” Foley said.
Laroche did not attend the meeting and could not be reached for comment Monday.
Aside from the crash that killed Holly Laroche in 2004, the vast majority of accidents within the triangle – formed by Main Street, Cumberland Street and Harnois Avenue – are minor. But there are a lot of them.
The 79 accidents that occurred from 2011 to 2013, where Warren Avenue meets the Cumberland Street section of the triangle, gave it the highest crash rate in Cumberland County and the third-highest in the state, according to the Maine Department of Transportation.
The proposed project would add a traffic light at every intersection within the triangle – at Main and Cumberland streets, Cumberland Street and Warren Avenue, Cumberland Street and Harnois Avenue, and Harnois Avenue and Main Street.
The proposal came from a report done by a group of city and state officials in 2005, not long after the accident that killed Holly Laroche.
The city has been seeking funding since then.
The $1.8 million project has already gotten preliminary approval for funding, most of which would come from the federal government, supported by matches from the state and city, and has now risen to the top of the priority list for the Portland Area Comprehensive Transportation System, which requires communities to endorse projects before moving forward.
City Engineer Eric Dudley said construction could start in 2015 or 2016.
“That’s quick these days,” City Councilor John O’Hara said at the meeting Monday.
“Big changes in that area are coming soon. Welcome changes,” he said.
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