Bowdoinham weighs traffic calming, crosswalk changes near waterfront park

Drivers easing along Route 24, pedestrians heading for Mailly Waterfront Park, and customers bound for the Bowdoinham Food Pantry and nearby businesses were all part of Bowdoinham’s latest traffic test, as officials weighed whether a four-way stop and gateway changes should become permanent.

The Bowdoinham Select Board reviewed the demonstration project on May 26, with town officials framing it as a live test of whether the village center could be made safer without making access to downtown and the waterfront more difficult. The town has been working with the Maine Department of Transportation and the Bicycle Coalition of Maine on traffic-calming and placemaking ideas after repeated concerns about speeding traffic and the Route 24 crossing to the park.

The April 22 memorandum said the Select Board had already approved $1,319.50 in TIF money in January to launch an all-way stop demonstration at Route 24 and Lower Main Street. MaineDOT later recommended added signage and flashing-light work, pushing the estimated cost to about $2,361.78. The memo said the main visibility problem was at the north approach, where the Masonic Lodge blocks sightlines.

Town planners have treated the project as part of a longer village-center effort. Bowdoinham first applied to MaineDOT in July 2023 for a temporary crosswalk and gateway demonstration project, and 114 residents filled out the follow-up survey. Feedback was mixed: roadway-narrowing features, especially the delineators, were not well received, while the painted crosswalk drew support. Some residents asked for a raised table, flashing lights, more signage or no-parking restrictions along Route 24.

The town’s planning study said the need for a safer crossing grew out of the lack of a direct sidewalk or crosswalk to the new waterfront park. It also tied the project to the 2010 Walkable Village Plan, which supported a sidewalk or delineated walkway along lower Main Street and around the project area.

Town documents said the issue was especially urgent in summer, when the corridor handles the farmers market, the summer Sunday concert series, Open Farm and Studio Day in July, Tour de Bowdoinham in August, Celebrate Bowdoinham in September and regular food pantry traffic. The memo also said opposition from the boating community helped stop consideration of a one-way Lower Main Street plan, since longer boats can reach the park only that way.

Bowdoinham’s transportation presentation added that the study area, which includes River Road, Main Street, Main Street Extension, Mailly Waterfront Park and the Cathance River Boat Ramp, logged two crashes from 2021 to 2023 and six crashes at the River Road/Main Street intersection from 2014 to 2023, with no fatalities, serious injuries or bike-pedestrian crashes in that span. The town proposed installing the demonstration on May 15, gathering feedback through September 18 and sending a report to MaineDOT by Oct. 1. AARP has said the demonstration improved access to the waterfront area and helped build support for a four-way stop to be implemented in 2026.