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5.2.3.4 Strategy 2C – Improve Mobility along Mill Street
Transportation Operations
Options 1 and 2 for Strategy 2C examine a three- and a four-lane median divided
cross section for Mill Street, respectively. The three-lane option consists of two
northbound travel lanes and one southbound travel lane separated by a raised-center
median. The four-lane option provides two northbound and two southbound travel
lanes. From a traffic-operational perspective, the four-lane section (Option 2) is
needed to process the projected DHVs. Anything other than the four-lane section will
result in substantial delay. However, throughout the public-input process,
considerable comments suggested that regional through traffic should be encouraged
to use the Coastal Connector. The thinking is that to encourage the redistribution of
traffic to the Coastal Connector will necessitate motorists experiencing substantial
delay.
Option 1 substantially meets the objective of enhancing safety but only moderately
meets the objectives of improving mobility, encouraging multimodal mobility,
accommodating NASB travel demands, and dovetailing with community goals.
Option 2 substantially meets the objectives of improving mobility, enhancing safety,
and accommodating NASB travel demands but only moderately meets the objectives
of encouraging multimodal mobility and dovetailing with community goals.
Environmental Impacts
Strategy 2C, located along the Mill Street urban corridor, is bounded by high-density
residential development to the south and east and the Androscoggin River to the
north. The primary natural resource located in this strategy area is the Androscoggin
River and its associated floodplains. Socioeconomic resources include an adjacent
residential neighborhood, potential historical resources, recreational facilities, and
private property. The two options developed for this strategy are similar in terms of
alignment and overall footprint.
Environmental Resources
Both options avoid wetlands and stream crossings and neither would impact
aquifers, farmland soils, or threatened or endangered species. The two options add
approximately 1.5 acres of new impervious surface, and both would impact about 0.2
acre of the Zone AE floodplains by widening the overall cross section of Mill Street.
No other impacts to natural resources are anticipated.
Right-of-Way
The Mill Street canoe portage, a property located at the corner of Mill Street and
Pleasant Street, would be impacted by the slope limits of each option but would
remain functional. This impact is anticipated to be less than 0.1 acre, occurring
Conclusions 157