AUGUSTA — A pedestrian was injured Tuesday afternoon when hit by a vehicle at the intersection of Memorial Drive and Gage Street, near Memorial Bridge, according to police.

Records indicate police and rescue crews responded to the intersection at 3:18 p.m. for a report of a motor vehicle accident with injury.

Chief David Groder of the Augusta Fire Department said Wednesday morning a city ambulance had taken the injured pedestrian to MaineGeneral Medical Center. From there, the patient, whom Groder declined to identify, was flown by a LifeFlight of Maine helicopter to Maine Medical Center in Portland.

The number and type of vehicles involved, the identity of the pedestrian and any drivers tied to the crash and the suspected cause are being withheld while officers investigate the incident.

Deputy Chief Kevin Lully of the Augusta Police Department said Wednesday additional information about the case might be released as the investigation continues.

It was unclear Wednesday whether the pedestrian was in a crosswalk when hit.

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Police records indicate eight Augusta police officers responded to the call. Some were working on the case as late as 7:31 p.m.

In 2018, an Augusta man, Dana Williams, was hit and killed by a pickup truck while crossing Memorial Drive, near the west entrance to Memorial Bridge and the intersection of Gage and Swan streets and Memorial Drive.

Staff members and attendees at the LINC Wellness & Recovery Center at 38 Memorial Drive said at the time that Williams, a volunteer there, had left at 7 p.m. and was carrying a box of food. The same sources said the intersection of Gage Street and Memorial Drive is dangerous, especially when dark.

The driver in the 2018 crash was not charged after an investigation indicated he could not have avoided the pedestrian, Kennebec County District Attorney Maeghan Maloney said at the time.

In 2019, officials with the Maine Department of Transportation, citing a pedestrian safety study prompted by concern over an increasing number of pedestrian fatalities, recommended Augusta make its pedestrian crossings more visible.

Also in 2019, city officials made changes they said were an effort to improve pedestrian safety on Memorial Drive, including reducing the westbound lanes coming off Memorial Bridge to one lane from two and closing the entrance to Gage Street from westbound Memorial Drive.

Lesley Jones, director of Augusta Public Works, said the change to one lane was to reduce the number of lanes pedestrians crossing there had to cross, “because traffic coming off the bridge is coming pretty fast.”

The city also installed rapid repeating flashing beacons, lights that allow crosswalk users to push a button to activate so they flash in an effort to warn motorists someone is crossing Memorial Drive.

Jones said the city took those steps to increase pedestrian safety at the site as a temporary move, in anticipation of the state DOT making permanent improvements in future years.

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