TOPSHAM — All-terrain vehicles could join the traffic flow on just under a mile of Main Street, which is also U.S. Route 201, to cross over Interstate 295.

The proposal, from local ATV and snowmobile club Topsham Trailriders, would designate 0.8 mile from Eagle’s Way by Mt. Ararat High School, down Main Street to just over Interstate 295 as an official ATV access route, connecting existing trail systems now separated by the interstate.

However, the proposal also brings safety concerns, as ATVs would share the road with regular traffic, including on a short section of the route where the speed limit increases to 50 mph.

Police Chief Mark Hagan is among the town officials who recommend allowing ATV access on the road, for a yearlong trial period.

They and club officials recommend the designated route for ATV riders be in the road itself, moving at speed with other vehicular traffic. They do not recommend, as some other communities have done, allowing ATVs to ride on the shoulder or in the breakdown lane.

Town Manager Mark Waltz said they anticipate ATV users riding in the road with traffic would be safer than riding alongside the road, to avoid interactions with pedestrians or bicyclists using an existing bike lane on that section.

Jenny Little, president of Topsham Trailriders, said, both in a letter to the town and in a July 16 meeting with selectmen, the club is open to guidance from the town but they’d prefer ATV riders use the travel lanes, not the breakdown lanes.

“We recognize this segment raises valid safety considerations,” Little said in her letter. “We are open to guidance from the town, law enforcement, and public works but our preference is to travel with the flow of traffic to maintain visibility and compliance with applicable laws. We are also open to using the breakdown lane at controlled speeds if that is determined to be the safer approach.”

Little said the intent is to reconnect existing eastern and western trail networks, which are now divided and prevent ATV riders from being able to go between the two.

“Making this connection would make it a continuous trail system, improving access for users and help establish Topsham as a destination for outdoor recreation and would hopefully also encourage visitors to spend more time in our community and hopefully support our local businesses,” Little told selectmen.

The proposal will be the subject of a public hearing Aug. 6, at which Ryan Holmes, vice chairman of the selectmen, said there would be a more in-depth conversation about the idea.

He said while most of it is 30 mph, it includes a short distance where the speed limit is 50 mph in the area of the bridge that crosses I-295.

“That sticks out to me, as something that ought to be discussed a little more,” Holmes said. “Are ATVs safe to go 50 mph? That drew a flag in my mind, that section of roadway where it’s 50 mph.”

Waltz said when the town’s public safety leaders looked at the proposal, they’re thinking was they’d rather have ATVs in the travel lanes, even under the speed limit, for that short section of road, rather than have them in the breakdown lane and having to cross multiple lanes of traffic.

Waltz said the club has been a very good community partner in Topsham, partnering with the town on grants and working hard on local trails, and officials would like to work with them if they can, to resolve the hardship of riders not being able to get from one of the club’s two trail systems to the other.

The club’s website says it has over 16 miles of ATV trails and 30 miles of snowmobile trails in Topsham.

Little said for more than 25 years, the club has maintained multiuse trails throughout Topsham and works with more than 65 landowners.

Only one landowner, Central Maine Power, would be impacted by the proposal, she said, and the company has authorized the club to use part of a power line area near Eagle’s Way, where a trail already exists.

The road access would end on the western end at a former, temporary and now unused access ramp to I-295, leftover from a previous construction project.

Little said the trail access on that end is not yet complete but would connect to existing trails when work there is done, either at the end of this season or the beginning of next. She asked that the proposed yearlong trial not start until that trail access is complete.

The proposal would require state Department of Transportation approval, as well, which Little said the club would seek after consulting with town officials.

She and town officials said the club would pay for signs to be installed along the route, warning motorists that there may be ATV riders in the road with them.

ATVs would be allowed to use the road only from dawn till dusk.