Speed limit needs lowering

Sunday afternoon’s accident, April 28, in Gorham was a wake-up call if there ever was one.

My dad expressed a solemn thought in respect to the accident: “A family man, these days, if he wants to treat his wife and family to a leisurely Sunday drive and a dinner out, followed maybe by an ice cream cone, has to think if they will come back home all alive or dead.”

I drove out to Gorham Monday morning to do a bit of research and some observations.

1. Posted speed limit on Main Street, Route 25 east and west at the intersection with Libby Avenue: 35 mph.

2. Posted speed limit on Libby Avenue’s north section from Main Street to Gray Road, Route, 202: 40 mph. One speed limit sign at each end of Libby Avenue.

3. Posted speed limit on Libby Avenue’s south section from Main Street to the New Portland Road rotary: 35 mph. One speed limit sign at each end of Libby Avenue.

The south section of Libby Avenue has a steep hill, with several homes, a mobile home trailer park and a day care center and one or two businesses. The road surface is very smooth – no guard rails – and is very straight, almost like an interstate highway should be. The posted speed limit on the southern section of Libby Avenue is 35 mph, probably due to the mobile home park and the day care center.

The north section of Libby Avenue is quite different. The surface has patches of rough asphalt, from construction and underground work. Halfway up is a dogleg curve, with a wooded section and homes under varying stages of construction. An F1 tornado went through this area a few summers ago. The posted speed limit on the northern section of Libby Avenue is 40 mph.

Posted speed limits can be changed, but it requires a long process. Drivers must pay attention, especially in growing rural residential areas such as is the case on Libby Avenue and its intersection with a major state highway, Route 25, or Main Street, Gorham.

This is a classic Catch 22. Until the accident and death tolls increase, nothing will change.

Motorists unfamiliar with the area are especially vulnerable, but until the proper authorities, in this case, the Maine Department of Transportation for Route 25 are put on the spot by local authorities and citizens, look out!

A flashing red light mounted on a small post with a stop sign was installed on both of the right-hand sides of Libby Avenue, together with a stop sign on both left-hand sides of its intersection with Main Street a few years ago, after a horrific accident and a fatality, involving a dump truck and a Dumpster-hauling truck. That accident also destroyed a utility pole, newly installed a week before, bringing down live electrical wires. A fast-thinking CMP utility line supervisor had that circuit de-energized by remote control to make the accident scene safe for fire, rescue and police.

Sunday’s accident, though there were no fatalities, involved three vehicles, several people, but, thankfully, no downed electrical wires.

Driving south on Libby Avenue from the Gray Road, Route 202, the distance from the yellow diamond-shaped sign with a red stop sign affixed to it, to the Main Street intersection is exactly 0.1 miles. I am not sure of the elapsed time from the warning sign to the intersection at 40 mph would be, but the posted speed limit on both sections of Libby Avenue should be lowered to 25.

Approaching Main Street from Libby Avenue, southbound, the small post-mounted red flashing light is visually blocked by a utility point pole, just past the yellow warning sign, with the red stop Sign. That is the only visual warning on both sides of Libby Avenue as it crosses Main Street.

I remember a similar situation at least 10-15 years ago in Standish, involving the rebuilt “T” intersection of the Ossipee Trail, Route 25 and the Pequawket Trail, Route 113. I helped a now-retired state legislator work with the Standish Town Council and CMP in first, installing a street light at that intersection, then some years later, blinking red and yellow lights, then some time after that, a complete set of sequential green, yellow and red traffic signals for both highways.

Libby Avenue and Main Street in Gorham is a four-way intersection, with a heavy load of traffic, heavy trucks, school buses, concrete trucks, 18-wheel chip trucks heading to Sappi in Westbrook, fuel oil tankers, etc.

In my opinion, Libby Avenue, in both directions, since the new rotary was installed at the intersection of Libby Avenue, New Portland Road and Brackett Road, has become an impromptu high-speed bypass and shortcut between Scarborough, Westbrook, Gorham and Windham from Route 22 to Route 25 to Route 202, Route 237 and reverse.

Until there is a concerted group effort from the officials and citizens of Gorham, and area state legislators, there will be no action from the Maine DOT.Between now and whenever, Libby Avenue needs to be posted at 25 mph in both directions and “ Dangerous Intersection Ahead “ warning signs need to be installed on all four sides of this increasingly dangerous intersection.

Dennis Marrotte

Westbrook

Grow up, lawmakers

After hearing this Saturday’s morning television news on Maine taxes, I have to say: My God, get it together all you children in the Augusta State House.

It really is simple: Reduce spending, and get rid of the waste in state government.

Here’s just one example of how DHS is hurting this state. I know of a baby being taken from some very bad parents. The father got a lawyer; the mother got a lawyer; and the baby got a lawyer (the baby got a lawyer?) All three lawyers were paid by the state. Is that being responsible to the taxpayers of Maine? Most of us work hard and pay taxes, the rest of the people do not work and are taking our tax dollars. Why?

If you increase the sales tax and also allow towns to charge sales tax (locally) the only tax Maine will collect is the gas tax, as we all go to New Hampshire to shop, however most people will buy the gas in New Hampshire as it is cheaper also. But I am sure we will all pay the use tax on what we buy in New Hampshire, sure.

You want us to buy locally, but it will cost more in taxes. That will not help local retailers, but it will put them out of business. Maine could learn a lot from New Hampshire.

It is time for lawmakers in Augusta to work for the people of Maine, not their parties. Remember when “We, the People” used to mean something. Both parties need to stop fighting after the campaign and work together in Augusta for the people of Maine, not their parties.

Lower spending and cut waste, and don’t raise taxes, Maine is already the ninth highest taxed state. Stop wasting time on firearms, Maine doesn’t have a problem with firearms or “gun control,” but we do have a problem with “out of control” spending.

Many of us are thinking of moving out of Maine and going to New Hampshire, or south, because of headaches in Augusta, as we don’t need the mess. Fix it, work together. Stop being kids, and grow up.

David Call

Standish