We all respect the effort of the Maine Department of Transportation workers, who keep our roads clear and safe throughout the year. But there is another aspect of DOT that requires more oversight than it receives. The engineering department apparently believes that DOT stands for: Don’t Overthink. We have all witnessed some of their bonehead designs and wondered who was responsible for that.
Well, that office has struck again. In the middle of the hill, the somewhat steep hill in Wiscasset, there now stands a traffic light. The semis that ply Route 1 will now need to stop for that red light in the middle of that steep hill – in the winter. Well, they may not get moving again. And, come summer, when the pavement heats and softens, those same semis will cause rolls in the pavement as they attempt to start moving after their stop.
The irony here is that all the work being done is designed to ease the flow of traffic, but stopping those big rigs on a hill? Sophist engineering.
Richard Foley
Gorham
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