"Pretty much the whole thing is a high-crash location," said George Peterson, transportation planner at the Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments.
More than a dozen years after a Maine Department of Transportation study found Route 4 to be a high-speed, high-volume road with crashes more severe than similar rural highways, residents, city officials, lawmakers and transportation experts are pushing to make the Auburn section safer.
The planned improvements at multiple intersections along Main and Sabattus streets include median islands and curb extensions to shorten crossing distances for pedestrians.
The funding will be used to conduct a 'corridor improvement study' that will look at high-accident areas like the Veterans Memorial Bridge corridor linking Auburn and Lewiston.
A consumer investigation into valid car inspections, an analysis of school security, a story revealing how one Auburn women was scammed out of her living savings, and an investigation that led to the demise of Maine Education Services. These stories and more prompted results with impact.