THOMASTON — “We’re a pinch point [in the Midcoast],” said Thomaston Select Board Chair Chris Rector, “and it’s going to get worse. We’ve got Starbucks opening, and Jersey Mike’s, and another car dealership – potentially [purely speculative, according to the Code Enforcement Office]. They’re all going to create some challenges for us.”

Thomaston’s population and, subsequently, moving vehicles, have seen a large increase in the past ten years. Traffic doesn’t flow easily through town along Route 1, yet Project Planner John Fancy’s idea of bringing in a professional traffic study isn’t flowing either.

As a result of a twenty minute discussion during the September 22, 2025 Select Board meeting, Fancy will slow his push for the approval needed to spend the autumn and winter learning how much MDOT is willing to contribute to a study (financially and staffing) and sending out RFPs with the hope of gleaning information that can then be provided to residents at next June’s Town Meeting so they can vote on a study with a potential cost estimate between $50 – $75,000, or more. Fancy referenced a study that had been done for the town of South Berwick. Like Thomaston, South Berwick has a major road that empties onto another major road, equivalent to Thomaston’s Route 131 hitting Route 1 in two locations.

“What’s the one item that keeps coming up at Select Board meetings,” said Fancy, “has come up for years? That is, the traffic flow in Thomaston.”

It doesn’t matter if it’s concern about speeders on the side streets, congestion on Route 1, unsafe walking conditions for pedestrians, he said. It’s always something.

And, as was repeated in the meeting, the situation will only get worse.

"It isn’t tomorrow," said Fancy. "It’s down the road that we’re worried about."

Funding, timelines, Select Board feedback, road conditions

Town Manager Kara George asked if other funding options were available, such as grants. She also talked about timing.

“We just went through this with the building assessment,” she said. “The engineers wanted to know what our budget was before they put in a proposal. Also, after they put in a proposal, they want to know a timeline of when are we going to start working with them, and pick a company to go with. I guess my only concern in not knowing is, exactly what we have lined up for funding, and putting out the RFP too prematurely before we know those answers.”

Fancy responded by saying that without the RFPs, the Town won’t ever know how much the cost will be.

Vice Chair Kim Matthews is concerned that some residents will try to say that the Town is trying to do a bypass, the idea of which caused a heated response a few years ago.

Matthews also said that any substantial cost is too much.

“With the Town of Thomaston, with everything else we got going on – we need a new Fire and EMS building, making sure our staff are taken care of – I can’t see the town wanting to spend another $50 – 75,000,” she said….“Personally, as a Select Board member, I can’t wrap my head around that type of money for the Town of Thomaston."

Matthews said that if the Town received more money, she’d rather see that money go to Knox Street as opposed to another study that Thomaston might not even be able to implement.

Along with mention of an increasing mil rate, the discussion also turned to the roads themselves.

Matthews said that she came into town at a lower volume time and could get right through.

“I know that if it’s lunchtime or right when people are getting out of work, yeah, I’m going to take a little more time to get through,” she said. ”But isn’t that in any surrounding town that I go to now?”

In comparison to getting from one side of Camden to the other side of Camden, “Thomaston’s got it good,” said Matthews.

Rector spoke about the Town enduring a couple of summers six or seven years ago when MDOT dug up Route 1.

“We’ve got a reasonably good product, although some people feel that that’s part of the congestion,” he said. “But, I also think it’s improved. I think it’s made some strides in improving safety and crossing the streets, and so on….

“I think we’d have a hard time convincing our residents that they should put this as their top priority.

Rector said he understands where Fancy is coming from, [thinking about the future], with new houses coming in, it will exacerbate the problem even further.

“We’re not exactly sure how to address that,” said Rector.

He did say that there will be more addressing of Route 1 side streets with stop signs, more frequent patrols, possibly adding speed bumps.

“And that is what the traffic committee was charged with,” said Rector.

But a professional study, right now, isn’t going to happen.

Technology is getting better

Sgt. Chris Hansen (acting as Interim Chief) welcomes the information that could come from a professional study. Out on patrol, he see the problem locations, yet ideas for resolution aren’t coming to mind. Hansen told the Select Board that some of the study’s information could potentially be gleaned for free through other sources.

He referenced the traffic signal at High and Main streets. It’s a type of camera smart reader.

The blinking yellow light means go at your own risk. Yet, if it sees 15 cars piling up, then it’s going to stop everybody else, make everybody else red, according to Hansen. That system, he said, could also be activated at Main and Knox streets.

“That would be huge,” said Hansen.

That light system could eliminate a lot of that backup. Or, the light will count every car that goes through the intersection per cycle.

“That will give us the information that we need, from the study,” he said.

It could just be a matter of getting MDOT to release that information for free.

View the Select Board meeting here.

Find John Fancy's RFP proposal on page 107 of the September 22, 2025 Select Board meeting packet. 

Reach Sarah Thompson at news@penbaypilot.com