WESTBROOK – A plan to add a series of traffic lights at a dangerous intersection in Westbrook gained unanimous support from the City Council Monday, as the city now awaits the next step toward the $1.7 million design and construction.

In an attempt to make the Cumberland Mills “traffic triangle” safer for drivers and pedestrians, the chosen alternative will install new traffic signals and pedestrian crossings at the intersections of Main and Cumberland streets, Cumberland Street and Harnois Avenue, and Harnois and Main streets, allowing safer travel for commuters merging onto Main Street.

The intersection, which has seen a pedestrian death and is consistently ranked on the state’s top 10 most dangerous intersections, has been looked at for a redesign effort for some 10 years.

Project funding was recently approved by the Portland Area Comprehensive Transportation System, the region’s transportation planning outlet.

Westbrook City Engineer Eric Dudley said last week that some 13 alternatives were looked at. Some would have made radical changes to the area, including relocating the recently reconstructed bridge at Cumberland Mills, changing traffic patterns to make some streets two-way instead of one-way, and dead-ending a portion of Cumberland Street.

On Monday, Council Vice President Michael Foley thanked Dudley for his work in securing the funding, a process that was hindered for years by heavy competition in Greater Portland for funding.

Foley also acknowledged Westbrook resident Donald Larouche, whose wife, Holly, was killed in 2004 after being struck by a van at the Main Street and Harnois Avenue intersection.

Foley said Larouche often expresses his concern for heightening safety in Cumberland Mills, and urged his fellow councilors to support the project.

“I think (the accident) necessitated some of the studies involving this intersection here,” he said. “(Donald) has consistently come to City Hall to express his support and seek a resolution. I feel it would be a tremendous improvement to that area, and I hope my colleagues will remember our friend Donald.”

Larouche said Wednesday that he’s glad the city is doing something about the intersection. “Eric (Dudley) called me down there and told me the good news,” he said. “I congratulated him, too.”

Dudley said Monday that next steps include allocating the funding from PACTS and discussing a design and construction schedule with the Maine Department of Transportation. He said the project is tentatively slated for design next year, with construction breaking ground in 2016, but that could change.

“It could be a situation where the design is in 2016, and construction is in 2017,” he said.

He added that an additional paving project from the state may coincide with the redesign.

The Cumberland Mills project also raises the chance of overlapping with another major project in Westbrook, the complete overhaul of the Bridge Street bridge, where work is scheduled to begin this winter. While Dudley hasn’t ruled out the possibility of the two projects coinciding, he said it would be a major consideration moving forward.

In other action Monday, the council unanimously supported a land lease agreement with Bagala Window Works, a Falmouth-based window restoration company that is looking to purchase a building on 677 Main St. The company plans to buy the former church and restore the building with distinctive stained-glass windows and a tower.

Adjacent to the church property is a strip of city-owned land that was never owned by the former congregation, but had been used as a parking lot. The council’s vote Monday will allow Bagala to lease the land that abuts the park to be used by staff and clients for parking.

Bagala Window Works owner Marc Bagala said Tuesday that he is working on a closing date with his financial partner and is scheduled to present to the owner Tuesday evening.

Bagala said Tuesday that he’s “grateful for (the council’s) consideration and grateful to the city employees that advocated for me. Hearing some of the councilors’ positive remarks about my moving into the Westbrook community has motivated and excited me even more to move my business there. It was touching to hear this public support and I will do everything I can to live up to the expressed expectations.”