With the increasing number of commercial vehicles on the road, Maine is considering steps to improve road safety for trucks. Proposed upgrades could include new turning lanes added to roads, and sight distances improved in coming years.

The state Transportation Department has retained a consultant firm to recommend how roads and bridges can be built and reconditioned allowing tractor-trailers and other vehicles with three or more axles to travel, turn and stop more safely.

Part of the firm's heavy-truck safety report eventually could be incorporated into MDOT's road-and-bridge improvement plan that is issued every two years. "It's designed to improve the flow of traffic and make the roads safer," Tim Bolton, of MDOT's Office of Freight Transportation, told the Portland Press Herald. "We want to move truck traffic in a safer and more efficient manner."

A public hearing on the draft report will be held on Sept. 21 from 3 to 5 p.m. in the MDOT building at 16 Statehouse Station in Augusta.