GRAY — The town has begun discussions about improving Route 115, although further planning won’t take place until spring, prompting one councilor to advise residents to “have some patience.”

The Town Council held an informal workshop Dec. 5 to discuss problems and possible solutions regarding the heavily traveled Route 115/Yarmouth Road, which runs into downtown Gray and the town’s main intersection.

Attendees listed a variety of concerns, including a lack of speed and noise enforcement, a lack of sidewalks, stormwater build-up and safety and lighting and visibility issues.

Improvement work would be done by Gray and the Maine Department of Transportation and “is going to take a long time,” said Town Council Chairwoman Sandy Carder.

The workshop, she said, was just a starting point for later discussions. “This is the first of many meetings,” she said.

At this week’s Town Council meeting, councilors again brought up the proposed project, with Carder cautioning against trying to do too many things at once.

“We’ve got a lot of things started. I think that we need to try to make sure that we’re a little more disciplined on the items that are started to make sure we’re moving some of them off the list before we start more items,” she said. 

Other councilors agreed, and Town Councilor Sharon Young said residents should “have some patience.”

Town Councilor Dan Maguire, who noted at the workshop that a recent Village TIF will generate about $100,000 a year for infrastructure projects “specifically for traffic and road issues on major routes,” wanted to ensure the Route 115 project doesn’t fall by the wayside.

“These projects do sometimes take decades. But development doesn’t sit still. We lose opportunities,” he said.

“We do have budget season coming up, and it takes time to work through a lot of these issues,” Carder said. “A lot of them are very daunting and challenging.”

She said the Town Council will have more workshop meetings regarding the Route 115 project in the spring.