AUGUSTA — Cony Circle used to remind Michael Duguay of a velodrome, the steeply-banked tracks used for racing bicycles.

And, like the cyclists trying to swerve and surge their way to the front of a pack during a race on a velodrome, the city’s east side circle was known for its spectacular pileups.

Additional Photos

STREET SMARTS: City of Augusta Development Director Michael Duguay speaks at transportation conference Thursday in Augusta. The conference was sponsored by the Maine Department of Transportation. Staff photo by Andy Molloy

“The issues we’ve dealt with in Augusta have been pretty interesting, if not downright amazing,” Duguay, Augusta’s development director, told a large gathering of transportation specialists during a panel at Thursday’s 61st Maine Transportation Conference at the Augusta Civic Center.

More than 500 people attended the conference, which included 60 exhibitors representing transportation, safety and advocacy groups, design consultants and distributors. The conference drew Maine Department of Transportation employees, as well as policy makers, public works directors, engineers and contractors.

Duguay, speaking on a panel about successful transportation projects in the state, touted the reconfiguration of Cony Circle as greatly reducing car accidents.

Duguay said in the past decade the city has seen tremendous development in north Augusta, around the Civic Center, and at Augusta Crossing, near Target and Lowes stores. During that development, there was a moratorium on changing either of the city’s two rotaries: Cony Circle, on the eastern side of Memorial Bridge, and Memorial Circle, on the west side of the bridge.

The rotaries were consistently among the top two most accident-prone areas in Maine, according to state crash statistics, but city officials were concerned changing the traffic pattern might make the situation worse, Duguay said.

“We were scared of the impact,” he said.

When the moratorium was lifted, the city worked to develop a partnership with businesses bordering the rotaries that would be impacted by the changes, Duguay said.

Nearly half the cost associated with nearly $2.2 million rotary project was paid by Hannaford, which opened a store just off the circle in 2009.

The city shelled out about $500,000 for the project and the remainder was covered by state and local funding, including money from area businesses.

“The important part was our ability to get to these different partners,” Duguay said.

Cony Circle was reconfigured in 2008 to reduce the number of lanes coming off the circle onto Stone Street from two to one, and to give Memorial Drive motorists a separate lane onto Stone Street that is not part of the roundabout. The changes included signs, stripes and arrows indicating which lane motorists should get in to get into the circle and exit where they want.

There were 160 accidents in the 18 months before reconstruction started in 2008, according to the Department of Transportation. There were 80 accidents in 18 months after that.

Injuries caused by those accidents dropped from 40 before reconstruction to 13 afterward, according to the state data.

Duguay said he personally witnessed an accident in the circle almost every day before the reconstruction. He has not seen a crash firsthand since the reconstruction.

“We were able to solve the problem of Cony Circle and fix it,” he said. “It’s allowed Augusta to really go to the next step.”

Craig Crosby — 621-5642

ccrosby@centralmaine.com

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