FARMINGTON — The Select Board reviewed $1.5 million in proposed upgrades to Main Street and Hippach Field this week, as part of a multiphase project to improve safety and access in downtown Farmington.
Preliminary plans include new granite curbing and islands; 5-foot-wide sidewalks that comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act; changes to the traffic flow through the Intervale; and installing decorative lights.
Farther up Main Street, the sidewalk elevation would be lowered as much as 3 feet, with the help of a retaining wall, allowing better visibility for motorists turning onto Main Street, off South Street.
The plan also includes shifting the centerline on Main Street through the curve near the Sweatt-Winter Child Care and Early Education Center to make it less sharp. The area has been problematic, including tractor-trailers getting stuck in the winter, Public Works Director Philip Hutchins told the board.
The proposed traffic pattern would require southbound vehicles approaching the bridge in the left lane to turn left onto Farmington Falls Road. Only traffic in the right lane would cross the bridge.
The northbound pattern would not change dramatically, but drivers would have more stenciled arrows and a new island to help enforce the turn-only lane that directs traffic up Front Street.
Hippach Field would get a new brick wall to replace the existing wood fence, according to the proposal.
The wall would include decorative cement balls on pylons, similar to the current design. The sidewalk that runs outside that wall would be made ADA-compliant, and utility poles would be moved to the other side of the street.
The dirt parking lot would also be squared off and paved to create additional spaces.
Additionally, as part of a widening of nearby Prescott Street, more parking for Hippach would be added there.
Decorative lights would run along the pathway that passes through Hippach Field, with additional lighting installed on Prescott Street to illuminate the new parking spaces.
A series of new catch basins and other improvements are being proposed to address one of the area’s most stubborn issues: water gathering at the downtown end of the Intervale after rainstorms and snowmelt.
While better drainage would not prevent a full-on flood, Hutchins said it would help in more common weather situations.
The project would be funded under the Maine Department of Transportation’s Municipal Partnership Initiative, which would cover half of the total cost, officials said.
The town hopes to put the project out to bid in December, with plans to begin work in the spring.
Phase 1 would focus on Main Street, from the Center Bridge over the Sandy River north to the intersection with South Street.
A second phase would make improvements from South Street north to the MDOT-maintained state roads that begin near the intersection with Anson Street.
