Brewer traffic study released
Saturday, May 06, 2006

With increasing numbers of heavy trucks traveling through the city's downtown, Brewer leaders, in partnership with the Bangor Area Comprehensive Transportation System, have been studying how to make traveling safer and now are recommending several changes.

"The North Main Street corridor is currently functioning near capacity during peak hours," the BACTS study states. "There are excessive queues at the signalized intersections, a large number of collisions along the corridor, and heavy volumes of truck traffic."

The BACTS advisory committee, which began work in September 2005, is unveiling its draft plan to reduce incidents in the North Main Street corridor - located between the Joshua Chamberlain Bridge and the Penobscot Bridge - and is hosting a meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 10, at the Brewer City Hall to solicit comments from the public.

"There are obviously a number of details that need to be worked out, and it's important to include affected businesses in the discussion, and area residents, to get their input prior to this moving forward," City Manager Steve Bost said Friday.

The BACTS advisory committee is recommending:

. Realignment of Betton Street and Parker Street to create a four-leg intersection.

. Relocation of the traffic signal from Center Street to the newly aligned Betton and Parker streets intersection.

. The possible closing of Center Street, or making it a one-way roadway.

. Coordination of the traffic signals in favor of northbound traffic

. Elimination of on-street parking near Joshua Chamberlain Bridge to provide additional travel and turn lanes.

. Designating Union Street and Center Street, at their junctions with North Main Street, right-in, right-out only.

The realignment of Betton Street and Parker Street has been discussed for a number of years, Bost said.

"The city already has moved to acquire two of the buildings that would be necessary to begin that project, although the project is two or three years down the road," he said.

The North Main Street corridor study was conducted by Gorrill-Palmer Consulting Engineers Inc. of Gray, who assessed the current and future transportation needs, including studying traffic accidents, queuing issues and traffic counts for the five-block area.

A Maine Department of Transportation traffic study, conducted in August 2005, tallied more than 11,300 vehicles daily, "with approximately 7 percent of that volume being heavy truck traffic."

Trucks use the corridor to gain access to Calais and Canadian Maritimes using Route 9, located just north of the city.

"As a result, a significant portion of the traffic utilizing this corridor is pass-through traffic, and in particular, truck traffic," the study states.

The heavy traffic adds to the sometimes excessive queuing in downtown Brewer and will only continue to degrade the corridor if improvements are not made, Bost said.

"It appears that there are a number of accommodations being made for the heavy truck traffic going through that corridor, which is important," he said. "Nevertheless, these proposed changes hopefully will not be viewed by MDOT as a substitute for the Interstate 395-Route 9 connector."

Comments on the draft can be made in public at the May 10 meeting, or by writing: Robert Kenerson, Bangor Area Comprehensive Transportation System director, 40 Harlow St., Bangor 04402-2579 or by e-mail at: rkenerson@emdc.org.

Comments must be received before 4 p.m., May 19.

A copy of the 43-page study, with concept maps, is available on the BACTS Web site: www.bactsmpo.org

A copyright story from the Bangor Daily News, Saturday, May 6, 2006.

BACTS news release
Brewer Main Street Study Public Meeting and
Comment Period (public notice)