Cumberland hopes to install a traffic roundabout at the intersection of Route 100 and Blackstrap and Skillin roads. Contributed / Gorrill Palmer
Cumberland will ask the state for approval to build a $12.4 million roundabout at the intersection of Route 100/Gray Road and Skillin and Blackstrap roads.
The roundabout not only will be safer, it could also boost economic development in the area, town officials said.
The Cumberland Town Council voted unanimously last week, with Councilor Ronald Copp abstaining, to make the request to the Maine Department of Transportation, acting on a recommendation from Gorrill Palmer engineering.
From 2021 to 2023 there were nine crashes at the intersection. File photo / The Forecaster
Gorill Palmer’s recent study showed a roundabout would be the safest option for the intersection, which now has a two-way, unsignaled stop.
“There have been some accidents at this intersection, and they’ve been publicized,” Gorrill Palmer engineer Don Ettinger said. “We’ve worked with the town on coming up with some short-term safety conditions to make this intersection safer until this project can get built.”
The town has been discussing potential safety improvements at the intersection for years. From 2021 to 2023 there have been nine vehicle accidents at that location with eight injuries, according to the Maine Department of Transportation.
Town Manager Bill Shane said a roundabout could open the door for more economic development in West Cumberland. The area surrounding the roundabout, which already has businesses like BruThru coffee shack, will be pedestrian and bicycle friendly.
“This is going to provide a gateway into a community where we’ve struggled to create a destination point,” Shane said. “It feels like a drive-by right now. In the future, it definitely won’t be a drive-by.”
Councilor Robert Vail also stressed the economic impact of the roundabout.
“This is about economic development. This is about providing an opportunity for the town of Cumberland to move ahead in the next 50 years,” Vail said. “This is what I feel is visionary, and it’s the right thing for us to get behind this.”
One concern from residents at the Oct. 23 meeting was the cost of the project, which Ettinger said would be $12.4 million.
“These are whole project costs, not just construction costs,” he said.
Gray Road resident Linda Johnson told the council she’s worried the roundabout would encroach upon her property, especially because she’s already had some of her property used for a water line.
“I was told that at some point, I’ll have to remove my fence and the bushes I’ve planted,” Johnson said.
Town Manager Bill Shane told Johnson the town will work with her and other neighbors before and during the project.
Other residents at the meeting said they supported a roundabout because it would force cars go slower.
“I think the raised intersection is a good idea,” resident Bruce Sherwin said. “I think it will slow people down.”
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