Town to draft new traffic ordinance

OXFORD —  The town is pursuing traffic restrictions on Rabbit Valley Road to reduce the amount of through-traffic and to prevent accidents.

During its July 19 selectboard meeting, selectmen voted to direct Town Manager Michael Chammings to draft a new traffic ordinance to address an excess of  through-traffic on Rabbit Valley Road.

The ordinance would also include existing traffic restrictions on Roller Rink Road and Hebron Road.

In a telephone interview, Chammings said service trucks and other vehicles use Rabbit Valley Road as a short-cut from Route 26 to Route 121, on their way to Otisfield and locations beyond.

Chammings said that, for years, the town has received complaints about traffic from residents.

"[Rabbit Valley] gets a lot of service trucks," Chammings explained. "Let them stay on the state road. It's a lot safer to have commercial trucks on a commercial road."

Moreover, he explained, Rabbit Valley Road runs near three ponds in town and there is considerable foot traffic from people who have private roads down to the ponds and are out for exercise, particularly in the summer.

"It's a hilly area and it's residential," Chammings said. "It's not meant to have commercial traffic going through it." 

Chammings said the new ordinance would also include existing restrictions on truck traffic on Hebron Road and a parking ban on Roller Rink Road.

"We're going to look at it all at once, instead of having three separate ordinances," Chammings explained.

According to Chammings, there have been several accidents on Hebron Road due to people using it as a short-cut. 

Additionally, when people park near Reid's Service Center on Roller Rink Road, it obscures visibility.

"It's almost impossible to see up that road when people park there," he explained.

Even with the new ordinance, traffic might still be tricky to restrict.

"Sometimes they're hard to enforce," Chammings said, "but the ordinary person is going to obey the traffic laws."