Dear Editor:

The Knickerbocker Group, on behalf of its client Paul Coulombe, proposes a major change to the life of the Boothbay community in order to improve traffic flow in the area of the Common. The proposed traffic circle has nothing to do with safety, as the author of the proposal acknowledges. It is all about traffic flow.

The question is whether the projected reduction in traffic delays associated with the proposed roundabout warrants the cost, the disruption due to construction, and the loss of traditional Boothbay byways. Unfortunately, the proposal does not answer that question. It does not contain a detailed statistical comparison between the current traffic flow and the proposed alternative. It contains projections about future traffic flow that are, from the statistical point of view, pulled out of a hat. The proposal is in fact more salesmanship for a roundabout than objective analysis.

That isn't surprising since the services of Mark Lenters and his consulting company are being paid for by Paul Coulombe. who has purchased much of the property around the Common and who apparently has agreed to pay for at least one third of the project's cost of about $3,000,000. The DOT has agreed to pay another third. But the project requires that the town of Boothbay pay one third. Will it be a wise expenditure of our money?  Who will be the main beneficiaries? Would it not be wiser to spend money to correct the actual traffic hazard created by the entrance to Mr. Coulombe's country club? 

There are issues of aesthetics, tradition, convenience, safety and decision-making associated with the roundabout proposal. But the flaws in the proposal make these issues moot at this time. I suggest that we conserve what we have unless it is clearly demonstrated that a change will be enough of an improvement for all the Boothbay area towns to warrant the disruption and the expense. Neither the shipyards nor the botanical garden are moving away if the plan is not enacted. I urge our selectman to be extremely cautious.

Fred Kaplan

Boothbay