Dear Editor:

On two photo shoots this spring, I have passed through the recently constructed Blue Hill roundabout on the way to Deer Isle. Completed in July 2013, it has access from four sides and four pedestrian crosswalks similar to what has been proposed for Boothbay. Out of curiosity, I phoned the Blue Hill Town Office to find out if it has been effectively smoothing traffic flow and increasing safety as intended. “We had people who said it would never work, now they say thank you, it is the best thing we ever did,” said the town clerk. She added that prior to the roundabout there were accidents two or three times a year but since it was completed there have only been two and they were single car operator error rather than multi-vehicle crashes. MDOT had labeled the intersection a high crash location since 1999 meaning it had eight or more accidents in a three year period prior to the roundabout.

Mr. Coulombe will complete his Country Club, condominium, and Village projects with or without a roundabout at the center. Let’s get away from personal insults and evaluate the proposed roundabout based on facts and function not personal issues. Suggesting that the DOT is biased, their site traffic evaluator may have been bought off, the selectmen and town manager may be in someone’s pocket, that Mr. Coulombe is writing in “code,” that someone is or isn’t from away or has a big or little house only serves to obscure the facts. The issue is whether a roundabout will benefit the peninsula’s residents, businesses, and visitors by smoothing traffic flow and increasing safety at the hazardous Boothbay Center intersection. Let’s see what the new evaluation the selectmen commissioned reports, compare it with the current MDOT evaluations, and make our voting decisions based on the facts for the best interest of all.

Stephen Rubicam

 East Boothbay