Have you ever tried to walk along Route 24? The only safe place is on the walkway of the Cribstone Bridge. Otherwise, on both Orr’s and Bailey islands, it’s literally trusting that the often speeding traffic will see you and steer away from your path.

The town of Harpswell has offered no solution, claiming that homeowners would have to surrender a strip of property to allow the creation of walkways along the road. An impossibility? I think not. The town could provide tax reductions commensurate with the small strip of land required for safe walking.

Better to plan ahead for safety rather than mournfully respond after an incident.

Peter Shaw, Orr’s Island