BANGOR ? The Maine Department of Transportation will conduct an informational meeting regarding proposed improvements to the Hogan Road/Exit 187 Interchange on Thursday, June 9th at 6:00 p.m. The meeting will take place at the Mathieu Auditorium of Schoodic Hall at the Eastern Maine Community College, located at 354 Hogan Road.
The proposed improvements will reconfigure the existing diamond interchange into a diverging diamond interchange (DDI). A DDI has the advantages of increasing safety, reducing congestion, and improving bicycle and pedestrian access. This is especially important at the Hogan Road/Exit 187 interchange where there are three high crash locations. Also, there is no safe access for bicycles or pedestrians along this section of Hogan Road.
A DDI increases safety by reducing the number of conflict points where roadway users cross or merge in front of each other. Congestion will be reduced by the DDI to better accommodate the high left turn movements onto and off from I-95. A DDI only requires a two-phase traffic signal; no separate left turn phase is needed, helping to move more traffic through the intersection.
The unique configuration of a DDI allows for these improvements without having to add additional lanes or width to the existing bridge. This allows for the interchange improvements to be made while utilizing the life of the current bridge. It also allows for the addition of bicycle and pedestrian access crossing the bridge.
To learn more about the proposed DDI, please go to mainedot.gov. This website includes video simulations of driving through the proposed DDI.
The first DDI in the United States was built in Springfield, Missouri and opened in 2009. There are now 66 that have been built in the United States in 28 different states. 17 more states have a DDI in study or design. The Hogan Road/Exit 187 interchange is the busiest Diamond Interchange in Maine, and would be Maine?s first DDI.