WESTBROOK – A recently released traffic study could spell the next step forward for the long-discussed Maine Rubber building in downtown Westbrook.

A study on the traffic patterns around Maine Rubber, located in what is called the Gateway West Contract Zone, has shown there are problems with a proposal to give the owners a portion of land on Saco Street in exchange for the city receiving some land near William Clarke Drive. But there’s already a solution.

The traffic study will be presented to the City Council at a meeting Monday, April 22, at 7 p.m. in Room 114 of Westbrook High School.

Sebago Technics, the Westbrook-based civil engineering firm, studied morning and evening peak-hour turning movements counts at the intersection of William Clarke Drive at Saco Street and Main Street at Mechanic Street on Tuesday, Feb. 26. The firm also used corresponding turning-movement-count information for the intersection of Mechanic Street and William Clarke Drive using the city’s Streetwise data system. Maine Department of Transportation information was also used from its traffic studies relating to the Main Street and new Bridge Street intersection.

Roadways around the Maine Rubber building are being looked at as part of an agreement between the building owners, the Elowitch family, and the city. The family is looking to sell the property and tear down the building, with help from a $125,000 Community Development Block Grant received by the city.

The family has asked that drive-through banking facility be a permitted use on the property, thus requiring the portion of Saco Street to allow for cars driving into and out of the business. While no one has purchased the property yet, the street access and the permitted drive-through use are additional selling points.

In exchange, the city receives a portion of property that will help expand William Clarke Drive.

Eric Dudley, city engineer, said problems in the plan would impact drivers on Mechanic Street.

“They’ll have a difficult time getting onto Main Street in this scenario,” he said.

Dudley said his recommendation would be to add another turning lane onto Mechanic Street, making a right and left turning lane. He said there is enough room to include both lanes, but if more room is needed, the city owns the east side of Mechanic Street and could use that land to create a bigger mouth for the road.

A memorandum from Steve Sawyer at Sebago Technics said the Mechanic Street traffic issues would reach an unacceptable level.

“First, the closure of Saco Street Extension will concentrate vehicles desiring to access Main Street from William Clarke Drive into one intersection – Mechanic Street – whereas today they have the opportunity to look for gaps in Main Street traffic at two locations – Saco Street Extension and Mechanic Street. Second, the relocation of Bridge Street to the west moves the congestion associated with this intersection closer to Mechanic Street, so the interaction of these two intersections (Bridge and Mechanic) is more critical,” Sawyer wrote.

Dudley said part of the reason why the level of service on Mechanic Street is so poor is because there is only one lane, so anyone waiting to turn in either direction has to wait in the same lane.

“It’s difficult to make a left turn onto Main Street and it holds up all the right turns, which are much easier to take,” Dudley said.

According to the charts provided by Sebago Technics, an additional lane on Mechanic Street would shrink northbound left turns onto Main Street from more than 30 seconds to less than 30 seconds and right-turn waits would drop from 17 seconds to under 10 in the evening.

“Given the data we had to work with (today’s volumes with no future growth) and the hypothesis we were examining, it appears the closure of Saco Street Extension between William Clarke Drive and Main Street is feasible if Mechanic Street is re-striped to three lanes,” wrote Sawyer.