The state has ditched a multimillion-dollar plan to build a bypass around the town of Wiscasset and is now focused on advancing one of two alternative plans, which it contends could vastly improve the traffic bottlenecks that have plagued Route 1 for decades.

The latest plans call for the creation of new parking lots off Route 1, the addition of traffic lights and pedestrian signals, wider sidewalks and sidewalk extensions, or bump-outs, to reduce the crossing distance for pedestrians.

More than 100 people attended a meeting in Wiscasset on March 8 at which officials with Maine Department of Transportation unveiled the proposals and said their preferred option also would eliminate angled parking spaces on a one-block section of Main Street, between Water and Middle streets.

Another informational meeting will be held in April before a public hearing and then a nonbinding referendum vote June 7. After the referendum, Wiscasset’s Board of Selectmen would be asked to officially approve a design option by no later than June 30.

State officials say that motorists trying to back out of spaces in the congested downtown and pedestrians who jaywalk across the two-lane road are causing traffic backups that can stretch for miles during the peak summer tourism season in July and August.

Gerry Audibert, MDOT’s project manager, said it would have cost the state roughly $115 million to build a bypass around Wiscasset. About 36 businesses and privately owned properties would have to be relocated.

The new design options would each cost no more than $5 million, would require no taking of private property, and would produce as much as a 58 percent reduction in major traffic delays, Audibert said.

“It has really only been a two-month problem that occurs in July and August,” Audibert said. “With these options we will be getting the biggest bang for our buck. There will still be traffic delays, but they will occur less frequently and be less severe.”

During July and August, and on holiday weekends, traffic often crawls through Wiscasset, causing backups into Newcastle and Woolwich that can stretch for more than two miles. State officials say those types of delays are unacceptable because not only do they adversely affect downtown businesses, but they disrupt regional traffic flow.

Audibert said the bypass option has been taken off the table and will not be looked at again due to its cost and environmental impact. Since that decision was made, the state has been analyzing non-bypass options, with the latest being the proposals presented March 8. The state is also working on funding several Route 1 intersection projects that would increase traffic mobility between Woolwich and Newcastle.

Audibert said the first two design options are nearly identical, with the biggest difference being the elimination of on-street parking on a section of Main Street – the main feature of option two.

A third alternative would be to do nothing, something the state said in its report is not desirable.

“The situation continues and likely worsens over time,” the state said of taking no action.

The MDOT estimates 17,000 vehicles a day travel on Route 1 in Wiscasset, with the daily traffic volume increasing to 22,000 in July and August.

If Wiscasset supports one of the design options, construction could begin as soon as late 2017, Audibert said. Both options call for the creation of new parking lots off Route 1 that would actually create more parking spaces in Wiscasset’s downtown.

“There will be more parking, but it won’t be quite as convenient,” Audibert explained.

Both design options would add sidewalk extensions, also called bump-outs, at Route 1 and Water Street and Route 1 and Middle Street.

The extensions would make Main Street narrower but would reduce the walking distances and pedestrian crossing times by about 55 percent.

Both options would add traffic lights and pedestrian signals that would minimize the stop-and-go traffic that occurs when people dart into traffic.

Lower Main Street sidewalks would be widened to meet requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Wider sidewalks would accommodate cafe tables and chairs, as well as benches, bicycle racks and other “charming enhancements,” the state said.

And a new sidewalk would be added to the existing sidewalk at Red’s Eats, a landmark and world-renowned lobster shack. The new sidewalk will make it safer for pedestrians, who won’t have to walk in the road to get around the long waiting lines at Red’s. Bollards would be erected to separate the sidewalks.

Under the second option, the MDOT would purchase a Coastal Enterprise building on Water Street and convert it to a 29-space parking lot.

Audibert said he has heard a few concerns expressed by business owners about the loss of “front door parking,” but the state says the walking distance from the new Water Street parking lot would be no greater than at most major shopping centers.

More information regarding improvements to Wiscasset’s downtown is available on the MDOT website, including a 12-minute design option video with narration.