Staff Writer

 A crosswalk where a Saco woman was hit and killed last summer is one of two slated for removal from Route 1 this spring.

Deputy Police Chief Ray Demers said crosswalks at the Main Street intersections of Summer and Cleveland streets will be removed because they are not appropriate for the heavy traffic flow in the area. He said 25,000 cars drive that stretch of road each day.

Demers said the Traffic Safety Committee last year asked Gorrill-Palmer Consulting Engineers Inc. of Gray to study the crosswalks after residents voiced concerns about their safety. Constance Orendorf, 74, was killed July 11 as she crossed Main Street at the intersection of Cleveland Street on her way to church.

Walter Fleury, 67, of Old Orchard Beach, later was indicted for manslaughter and pleaded not guilty. He is scheduled to appear in court today. 

The crosswalks are mid-block and not at locations with a formalized traffic control, such as a walk light. The closest crosswalk to the north is at the intersection with King and Fairfield streets, about 425 feet away. The closest crosswalk to the south is 915 feet away at the intersection with Beach Street.

Gorrill-Palmer conducted a pedestrian count Sept. 15, 2010, around the time Thornton Academy students finished classes for the day. According to the report, 12 pedestrians used the crosswalks at Cleveland and Summer streets.

The study recommends Thornton Academy students be encouraged to use the King Street intersection to cross Route 1.

Data from Maine Department of Transportation show 144 collisions were reported in the area between 2007 and 2009 and one involved a pedestrian. In that incident on March 15, 2009, a pedestrian crossing Main Street near the Saco Museum was hit by an oncoming car. The pedestrian was not in a crosswalk, according to the Gorrill-Palmer report.

“Based on this history, there does not appear to be a pattern of pedestrian-related incidents at either crosswalk, as the (Orendorf) fatality appears to be isolated,” Randall Dunton, senior engineer for Gorrill-Palmer, wrote in the report.

Public Works Director Michael Bolduc said crews will remove the crosswalks after they are finished with spring cleanup projects in May. Crews will either sandblast or grind the road to remove the paint and may need to replace one section of curbing, he said. 

“It’s not an easy job getting them off,” Bolduc said. 

Cara St. Louis-Farrelly, Orendorf’s daughter, this week said she was a little frustrated because her family was not involved in the process and had no idea a study was being done. She said she is happy with the “stand-up decision” by city officials to consider pedestrian safety.

“I’m really proud of the city for taking them out and admitting they’re not viable crosswalks,” she said.