BIDDEFORD — Biddeford and Saco are working together on a traffic plan that will affect both cities’ mill districts and downtowns.

The plan, being developed by Gorrill-Palmer Consulting Engineers, Inc. in Gray, will spell out what traffic improvements will be needed when the mill districts on both sides of the Saco River are built out to capacity. Full build out is projected to take place in the next decade or two.

The majority of the $37,700 cost of the plan is being paid for by the regional transportation planning agency PACTS, with 10 percent matching funds by Biddeford and Saco each.

When the plan is complete, the cities will go to the Department of Transportation to get a pre-approval and a traffic permit, said Biddeford Planning Engineer Jennie Franceschi.

Normally, she said, traffic permits are sought when a developer is preparing a project. Traffic improvements are often triggered at a certain stage of development in an area, and so the expense may fall on a single developer.

By getting the permit first, for the entire area, “we can do it in a manner so it’s not all on one project,” said Franceschi.

If the councils of both cities approve it, impact fees could be charged to developers to pay for part or all of the improvements. They might pay a portion of the cost based on their size and traffic impact.

“This is a much fairer way of proportioning the cost,” said Franceschi, and the cities are negotiating with the DOT to come up with a system to allow this approach.

Obtaining a traffic permit ahead of the development will also cut down on costs and achieve better coordinated traffic improvements, said Saco’s Economic Development Director Peter Morelli.

Under the current approach, he said, “each project needs its own traffic study,” and when improvements are made piecemeal, it creates a “mishmash.”

“It’s an expensive and ineffective way of doing it,” he said.

By getting the improvements pre-permitted, developers “will know the expense and what they are getting into,” said Morelli.

Although the Department of Transportation hasn’t said it will approve the pre-permit approach, it is “interested and encouraging,” he said.

“We want to be careful with development” in the mill district, said Franceschi, “but we don’t want to discourage development.

“I think we’re forging new ground,” she said about the cities’ proactive approach to the traffic permit process.

— Staff Writer Dina Mendros can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 324 or dmendros@journaltribune.com.