A vehicle turns right, which is allowed, out of the Starbucks parking lot at the 5-Points intersection in Biddeford. On Tuesday, Biddeford City Council voted to install a median to physically block prohibited left turns to and from the property. DINA MENDROS/Journal Tribune
BIDDEFORD — A median will be installed to prevent hazardous left turns in and out of the parking lot associated with the Starbucks coffee shop at the intersection Alfred and Elm streets,commonly known as 5-Points in Biddeford.
Although there are signs posted at the lot prohibiting left turns, some are still making such turns.
On Tuesday, Biddeford City Council approved constructing a median at 5-Points to prevent left turns at Starbucks at 352 Alfred St. The council voted to hire J. Pratt Construction of Hebron to build a granite median and are allocating for the project up to $12,750 from the road paving bond proceeds.
“When this (Starbucks) development was approved by the state and by the city it was part of the approval process that there were no left turns to be made out of that property and there were no left turns from Route 111 to be made into that property,” Councilor Michael Ready said. “There are some signs that the businesses put up but as the (police) chief has said they aren’t things that can be enforced anyway and they don’t work.”
In a Thursday email to the Journal Tribune, Police Chief Roger Beaupre said, “the signs that were put up by Starbucks for no left turn, are not enforceable, nor are they readily visible. There were 2 accidents around that area, but none of them can be directly attributable to Starbucks entry or exit. There have been numerous near collisions as a direct result of people wanting to turn left, both in and out, and that is the main reason the city council voted to construct a median to prevent left turns….which are not supposed to be allowed anyway. Left turns are inherently dangerous anyway, but the amount of traffic passing through there makes it even more so.”
Public Works Director Jeff Demers said he recently observed the intersection and within a half-hour he saw three vehicles turn left both in and out of the Starbucks parking lot.
“One tried to turn out and backed up traffic” at the intersection, he said.
A right turn only sign is installed at the Biddeford Starbucks. Not all obey the sign which has caused some near accidents according to Biddeford’s police chief. DINA MENDROS/Journal Tribune
“One tried to turn (left) in and almost got creamed by a pick-up,” Demers said.
The new median will extend a median that is already in the intersection to prevent left turns to and from Starbucks, city of Biddeford’s Chief Operating Officer Brian Phinney in an Aug. 5 memo briefing city officials about the issue.
“Currently, the roadway at the Rt. 111 feeder entering the (5-Points) intersection has a median painted to prevent traffic from executing a left-hand turn into the Starbucks parking lot and a left-hand turn out of the Starbucks parking lot toward the 5-Points intersection,” he said. “Both left-hand turns are illegal traffic movements. Nonetheless, the turns have been observed on a number of occasions despite the pavement markings and signs restricting the turns.”
“As a response, the proposal includes a physical extension of the curbed median to serve as a physical barrier to motorists, thus preventing execution of the prohibited left-hand turns,” Phinney said.
“The project will require night work due to the busy nature of the 5-Points intersection,” he said.
Phinney noted that the $12,750 maximum price tag for the project “is equivalent to paving an area approximately 750-feet long by 22-feet wide with a pavement depth of 1.5-inches at today’s cost of $73.50 a ton for bituminus.
The curbing will be constructed of granite and asphalt pavement, Demers said, which will make the median low-maintenance and unlikely to be damaged during winter plowing.
Ready said the council had been discussing what to do about the left turns for quite a while. “I think it’s the best way to fix this problem,” he said regarding the installation of the median.
Starbucks opened in later 2017. The 1,800-square-foot coffee shop was developed by Patrick Donahue and his father, Bill Donahue, of Five Star Holdings, LLC. According to Biddeford assessment records, the property was sold on Nov. 1, 2017 for $1.5 million by Five Star Holdings to 354 Alfred, LLC with a Portland P.O. Box address. The combined assessed value of the .42 acre parcel and building is $1,240,600.
— Managing Editor Dina Mendros can be contacted at 780-9014 or dmendros@journaltribune.com
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