Bangor officials plead Muddy Rudder case> Rail crossing at Waterworks a contentious point

BANGOR — No one from the public showed up, but the hearing at Bangor City Hall on Tuesday night was lengthy.

Hoping to pave the way for the development of a Muddy Rudder Restaurant, city officials made a 4 1/2-hour presentation to ask the Maine Department of Transportation to amend a decree establishing a public railroad crossing near the Waterworks on State Street.

When the February 1992 decree was issued, the proposed project for the site was a timeshare condominium. A location was chosen for the public crossing on the Maine Central Railroad line and it was agreed that traffic from the condominium could make only right turns onto State Street.

Developers abandoned that project.

The option agreement between the city and Chafe Restaurant Corp. to develop a 275-seat Muddy Rudder was signed Dec. 28, 1994. According to a letter written to the DOT by assistant solicitor Bruce Shibles, a condition of the agreement was to change the railroad crossing and allow traffic to turn in either direction.

The city proposed a new crossing down river, and also plans a public street across the railroad right of way. City officials believe that limiting exiting traffic to right turns would create risks to the public traveling in either direction, and likely would result in restaurant patrons’ using driveways and the nearby road to Bangor Mental Health Institute to turn around.

The better alternative, Shibles wrote, would be “a combination of traffic signals on State Street, automatic crossing gates, and automatic warning-tripping devices installed at sufficient distances” from the crossing and tied into the traffic signals on State Street.

“No decision has been made” on the city’s request, Shibles said Wednesday. “Technically, the hearing record is left open for another 10 days.”

“The railroad did not show up, but they submitted a letter in which they stated their opposition,” he added.

In an April 11 letter to the DOT, railroad Vice President Leonard A. Lucas pointed out that Guilford Transportation Industries had opposed the establishment of the crossing in 1992.

The railroad continues to oppose such a crossing, Lucas wrote, especially because patrons using the crossing may have consumed alcohol at the restaurant.

However, Lucas went on to outline conditions that should be followed if the DOT were to approve the railroad crossing. They include:

Automatic gates, signals including lights, bells, signs and warning devices.

A semiactuated traffic signal with an automatic railroad pre-emption sequence.

No right turns when the light is red.

Widening of State Street in that area.

The city paying the costs except for the operation and maintenance of the warning devices.

The conditions have already been incorporated into the city’s traffic report, Lucas added.

“The (DOT) hearing officer wants their signal engineer to take a look at the final design,” Shibles said.

Trains are scheduled to pass through the Waterworks area only three times a day, he said. “The estimate we put was three to five a day.” The speed limit for a train at that point is 10 mph.

The development of the Muddy Rudder would create the equivalent of 75 full-time jobs, Shibles said, with a community impact of 19 more jobs.

The hearing officer will write a draft recommendation on the request, “and then (DOT) Commissioner John Melrose has to sign off on it. The city is hoping for something in a very timely manner,” Shibles said.