SACO — Officials from the Maine Department of Transportation and the Bicycle Coalition of Maine are working with local communities to address pedestrian safety.

Officals from the the DOT and bike organization hosted a public forum in Saco Tuesday night, one of a number of community forums they are hosting throughout the state.

Jim Tasse, education director with the Bicycle Coalition of Maine said pedestrian fatalities have increased across Maine and across the country.

Patrick Adams, bicycle and pedestrian program manager at the DOT said he and the other facilitators wanted to make Saco “a better place to live and a better place to get around.”

Audience members were given remote control devices to weigh in on questions during the interactive workshop. They also broke into small discussion groups and gave their thoughts spreaking and filling out worksheets during a public input session. 

Tom Wright of Jenkins Road said as the rural areas grow more residential, sidewalks needed to be extended, road shoulders needed to be widened and speed limits needed to be lowered.

“We’re one distracted text message away from being a fatality,” he said.

Resident Robert Dunn said with the number of tourists coming in from out of state, he thought there should be an effort to notify people of Maine state laws regarding pedestrians. 

Meeting facilitators came up with a preliminary list Tuesday night, through audience input, of top areas of concern regarding pedestrian safety. These areas were the intersection of Jenkins Road and Route 112, the King Street crosswalk near Thornton Academy, and Ferry Road. Of particular concern for Ferry Road was the lack of sidewalks and crosswalks. 

Tasse said input gathered from the meeting would be reviewed. He said site walks will be scheduled at top areas of concern, and officials from the state, city and the Bicycle coalition of Maine will work together to come with proposed solutions to mitigate potential pedestrian safety threats.

— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 325 or egotthelf@journaltribune.com.