Staff Writer

Impatient for a long-term solution, residents who gathered at a public hearing Tuesday night asked for immediate help to ease traffic flow and slow speeding drivers on Running Hill Road.

“We need to do something now,” said Harold Elliot, who described rush hour traffic that makes it difficult to get out of his driveway near the intersection of Running Hill and Gorham roads.

Elliot spoke during a hearing for the concept plan developed as part of the Running Hill Transportation Study over the last year.

The study, funded in part by a $28,0000 grant from Portland Area Regional Transportation System, seeks ways to alleviate current and future congestion on the road, said Town Planner Dan Bacon. 

The study team included Bacon; Bill Bray, an independent traffic engineer; Randy Dunton of Gray-based Gorrill-Palmer Consulting Engineers and officials from the Maine Department of Transportation and Maine Turnpike Authority.

The concept plan presented Wednesday outlined a proposal to build a road linking Gorham and Running Hill roads from the intersection at Nonesuch River Golf Club to the crest of the hill on Running Hill Road near the Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield office.

The proposed road could be built to discourage use of Running Hill Road as it continues to the intersection with Gorham Road, Bray said, and possibly divert 20 to 25 percent of traffic away from the two-lane road that has become a favorite shortcut to Maine Mall and the Portland area.

Bacon said the road also is under consideration because zoning changes in the area will allow more commercial and higher density residential use and the town needs to be ahead of what development may occur.

Bacon said there are no current plans to develop the area. Landowner Ken Grondin approached the Planning Board last fall to inventory the environmental conditions of his property near the areas of New, Gorham, Running Hill roads and Spring Street.

The concept of a connector road, perhaps funded partially by impact fees for development in the area, was first introduced at the meeting.

Bacon said a 2008 study showed 7,000 vehicles a day use Running Hill Road. That traffic is expected to increase 20 to 25 percent in the next 15 years, Bray said.

Geoff MacLean, a Gorham Road resident, said the town should consider adding speed tables, which were implemented in Portland and Westbrook to combat speeding.

Jim Wallace, who lives closer to the intersection of New and Running Hill roads, was not impressed by connector road plans.

“I don’t think we are accomplishing anything,” he said. He supported the idea presented last summer to eliminate the direct route to The Maine Mall and South Portland by ending eastbound Running Hill Road at New Road.

Other suggestions from the approximately 30 people in attendance include installing a three-way stop sign at the intersection and limiting turns onto Running Hill Road.

The traffic problems are part of a regional issue, Bacon said, because of growing communities west of Scarborough and two-lane roads that lead to them.

A larger study called the Gorham East-West Corridor Study is under way and could include a toll road from the turnpike, but no conclusions have been made and any solution would be years away, Bacon said.

As Elliott and MacLane noted, reducing and slowing traffic on Running Hill Road will benefit residents, but create an additional burden on Gorham Road, a road already prone to rush hour congestion. MacLane said afternoon traffic headed to the traffic lights at Saco Street and County Road often stalls in front of his home.

Bacon said the plan to create the loop and the traffic calming suggestions will be considered as parts of the study conclusions to be presented to town councilors next month.

Staff writer David Harry can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 219