Small-Town Seafood Shack Creates Big Traffic Problem

A popular seafood shack in small-town Maine is causing huge traffic problems. Officials are considering a $100 million solution.

1 minute read

July 31, 2010, 7:00 AM PDT

By Nate Berg


Red's Eats, a seafood shack in Wiscasset, Maine, has been such a popular eatery for decades that it's created a massive traffic backlog through this tiny town. Officials are thinking about various solutions to the congestion.

"For at least half a century, townspeople have fervently debated how to solve the traffic problem.

They have considered putting a pedestrian bridge over U.S. 1, removing the parking spots along it or even spending $100 million to build a bypass around the town, an option that gained momentum this spring when federal officials approved a route for it.

But Mr. Risell is among a handful of people circulating an even bolder idea: moving Red's, which, in various incarnations, has drawn crowds to the corner of Main and Water Streets since the 1930s."

Friday, July 30, 2010 in The New York Times

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