Driving on about a mile of busy Route 1 in Scarborough should be a little less stop-and-go after the launch this week of upgraded traffic lights.
From the Maine Medical Center Scarborough Campus south to the entrance to the municipal complex at Oak Hill, adaptive traffic lights have been installed at five intersections. The AI-powered Adaptive Traffic Control System detects the flow of traffic and adjusts signals accordingly, rather than relying on timers as had been the case.
“It’s the perfect technology for Route 1 in that we can’t increase lanes,” Town Manager Tom Hall told The Forecaster, and the expectation is that drivers won’t wait as long at a red light if crossing traffic is scarce or not present.
The new lights have been installed at the intersections of Route 1 and the Scarborough Connector, Portland Farms Road, Hannaford Drive, Gorham/Black Point Road and Municipal Drive.
The technology is already used elsewhere in town. Three intersections at Dunstan Corner have been equipped with the system since 2019 and wait time at those traffic lights has been reduced by 24%, according to the town.
The $346,750 upgrades at the five intersections were funded entirely by traffic impact fees from developments in the community, Hall said.
Additional ATCS traffic lights will be installed next year on Route 1 as part of a collaboration between the town, state and The Downs downtown development.
“Later this year, and probably into May of next year, we’ll be working on the second half of those signal improvements,” said Dan Bacon, development director for M&R Holdings, a general contractor for The Downs. “That is from Sawyer Road all the way down to Haigis Parkway and Lincoln Avenue. The goal is to have sort of a corridor that’s well-coordinated. (The signals) can make it smoother and a lot more efficient to travel through the corridor.”
The total cost of improvements from 2022 through 2026 is estimated to be over $16 million, Bacon said. Of that, the state has committed to match $3 million and Scarborough nearly $900,000, according to the town manager.
“All of those things, I think, really help and benefit everybody,” Bacon said.
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