The Maine Department of Transportation plans to replace the existing signal lights at Main and Elm streets in Topsham by the end of next year.

The upgrades are being done to meet standards that promote highway safety and efficiency by providing orderly movement of all road users on streets, highways, bikeways and private roads open to the public.

Brian Keezer, multimodal project manager of Maine DOT, said that they are currently finalizing the design of the light heads and planning to have everything ready to go for advertising in February.

The construction is likely to start sometime next year and is expected to be completed by the end of December.

“There is a supply issue right now with certain items,” said Keezer. “Our goal would be to have the signals installed by the end of 2022. We prioritize intersections based on traffic volume and safety, and 201 Main Street and State Route 24 Elm Street happen to make their way up the list and were able to get funded.”

According to the Maine Department of Transportation’s 2019 data, the annual average daily traffic volume on Main Street and Elm Street was 6,290 and 12,010 vehicles per day, respectively.

Keezer said the current lights and equipment are outdated.

“We are putting the newest and latest technology for the controller. The equipment and the detection are going to be new,” said Keezer. “Hopefully, everything works better and is more reliable than what is out there now.”

The new signal controller released a few years ago has a lot more options to run more efficiently.

“Someday, when we have autopilot cars, these signal controllers will be able to communicate with the vehicle and let the vehicle know if it needs to prepare to stop. It is a kind of an idea what it will be able to do in future,” said Keezer.

Keezer added, however, he is not sure exactly how much they are going to take advantage of those capabilities right off the bat, but as time goes on and cars become smarter, they will be able to communicate with the controller in a better way, he said.

The project’s total cost is $370,000 and is completely funded by the state and federal funds.

In January, the Maine Department of Transportation was awarded $3,471,651 million to replace 43 traffic signal controllers across the state. The funding was through the Federal Highway Administration’s Advanced Transportation and Congestion Management Technologies Deployment grant program.

Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, the chair of the Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee, back then said that Maine roads suffer from outdated traffic detection systems. The new advanced traffic controller devices will provide real-time traffic and signal data, which will help eliminate delays.