Bangor to Trenton

Getting from Bangor to the coast during the summer can be difficult and time-consuming. The question before a study group today is whether it is easier to get there without driving. The state Department of Transportation wants to find out whether trains or buses would be popular choices for people who travel this busy stretch of Routes 1A and 3. Done right, these alternatives could save time, cut air pollution and provide opportunities for communities at both ends of the trip.

The DOT and a transportation consulting company called SYSTRA have scheduled meetings today at noon at Ellsworth City Hall and 7 p.m. at Brewer Auditorium to describe the project and answer questions from the public. Two more public meetings will be held in the fall to describe the outcome of the group’s work. People interested in developing tourism in Bangor or relieving traffic in Trenton should attend.

According to the DOT, the three priorities of the study are to develop ways to ease congestion along 1A and 3, to look into the chance to use the state-owned Calais Branch rail line between Brewer and Ellsworth and to find ways to move people onto Mount Desert Island and to Acadia National Park without increasing the number of single-passenger vehicles. One idea is to have tourists take a bus or train from the Bangor area as far as Trenton, then transfer to a bus to MDI. It wouldn’t be a surprise that a public already skittish about using mass transit is even more suspect of mass transit that includes a transfer.

Bangor and Brewer are presented with several opportunities in this study. Tourists, for instance, who would like to visit the Maine Discovery Museum or a revitalized Penobscot River waterfront could spend the day here and hop on a train to the coast the next day. For the increasing number of Maine residents who work, for instance, at Jackson Laboratory or MDI Biological but live closer to Bangor, the availability of mass transit could hold real appeal. For residents of the island itself, having fewer cars clogging the roads can make the summers easier to bear.

But persuading people to take trains or buses instead of their cars isn’t easy. The public will have to be assured that they can quickly get to their destinations once the ride ends; tourists will have to see a time or monetary savings over taking their own car to Maine or renting one here. The study starting publicly today should help, and DOT should be encouraged to look for as many ways as possible to make a mass-transit link work.