Wiscasset

downtown more attractive and pedestrian-friendly. There’s a lot of potential here for people to park somewhere and explore the town. Alongside these recent aesthetic and functional improvements, Chrostowsky’s big focus is to get local businesses in the downtown area to collaborate more as a team. The goal is to get them working together to market the community and better appeal to residents and tourists. The Town supports the Northern New England Passenger Railroad Authority’s initiative to extend Amtrak’s Downeaster Service from Brunswick to Rockland. This new service will include a stop in downtown Wiscasset to bring visitors to our community and provide our residents with access to Amtrak’s nationwide rail network. Also, believed to ease traffic congestion during the summer. year, several thousand people from all over the state attend the races. STOPPING FOR MORE THAN TRAFFIC With its charming downtown, Wiscasset has no problem attracting tourists. It hopes to get them to stop in and stay a bit longer. As Town Manager Dennis Simmons says playfully, “The tourists do stop, but unfortunately, they’re stopped in traffic.” There is a bit of a bottleneck issue that the town is trying to improve, but mostly, they’re focused on bringing people out of their cars and into the stores. The downtown area was redesigned a couple of years ago, and a big change was removing on-street parking. This shift made a big difference in making Photo Credit: Phil Di Vece 8 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 5, ISSUE 03