Maine Department of Transportation officials will come to Wiscasset to present downtown concepts that the agency is and is not considering, an MDOT official said March 10. Word that a concept MDOT officials still say is off the table but will get a public airing was welcome news to those interested in exploring the idea of a pedestrian underpass and a boardwalk.

“The door is ajar,” Lincoln County Planner Robert Faunce said.  “I think it’s a very good response from the department.”

The boardwalk and underpass concept involved a move for Red’s Eats, and is no longer being considered because the Water Street business decided moving would not be in its best interest, MDOT officials have said. The state’s focus now is on a set of possible changes including traffic controls and pattern changes; officials still plan to present that concept to the town, probably in late March or early April, to see which pieces Wiscasset may or may not want the state to pursue, Scott Rollins, assistant director of MDOT’s Bureau of Transportation Systems Planning, said.

But some Wiscasset residents and the board of the Lincoln County Regional Planning Commission have favored the state getting public input on all alternatives for easing traffic congestion and improving pedestrians’ safety downtown.

The larger concept could be an economic boost and help people enjoy Wiscasset’s waterfront, Faunce said. He made his comments in an interview before the start of the second of two public outreach sessions MDOT held at Wiscasset Community Center on Tuesday. The meetings are happening around the state as MDOT gathers public input on transportation needs, in connection with its long-range plan.

Thirty-one people turned out for the afternoon session, MDOT officials said. About 10 people, including other MDOT officials, comprised the audience for the evening session.

Rollins confirmed that during the earlier session he said the department now plans to also present the larger concept in Wiscasset. The meeting could be either a workshop with selectmen, as MDOT officials have previously eyed, or some other public forum, Rollins said. But he emphasized in the interview and in the evening session that presenting the boardwalk-underpass concept does not mean it is back on the table; it isn’t.

If Red’s Eats reconsidered the state’s idea of a move, that could lead the state to revisit the concept, Rollins said. “We’re not going to force that,” Rollins told attendees. “We’re going to move forward with improvements without that major waterfront work.”

The alternative currently under consideration is projected to cut traffic congestion by 49 percent, Rollins said; the concept involving the underpass and moving Red’s Eats had been projected to cut congestion by 61 percent, he said. All concepts the state has developed are still just that, concepts, not plans that have been approved for projects, he added.

Like Faunce, Wiscasset Waterfront Committee Chairman Susan Robson said it was encouraging to hear the state’s willingness to present all alternatives. ”At least people are talking. I’m looking forward to the upcoming meeting,” she said after the evening session.

In other topics Tuesday, Faunce told Rollins that Route 1 in Woolwich is becoming pretty rutted; the state will look into it, Rollins said. The state has an RV-type vehicle for gathering data on roads’ bumpiness, he said.

Carla Dickstein of Wiscasset told Rollins she was glad to hear that the need to fund work on Maine bridges will not put an end to looking at transit options that are going to become increasingly important. “We need something to manage (the transit needs for)  the explosion of what the older population’s going to be,” she said. Dickstein, Coastal Enterprises’ senior vice president for research and policy development, serves on an MDOT advisory committee on transit.