City plugs away at bad roads Street-paving efforts concentrated on the bumpiest byways

BANGOR – City Engineer Jim Ring makes a list.

“Broadway … near the park? That’s not very good,” he said on Monday as he scribbled the street name on a piece of scrap paper.

“Maine Avenue? Outer Hammond? Horrible.”

And while the list may go on, Ring said city officials have taken significant steps in the past few years to shorten it – and smooth over some of the city’s bumpier highways and byways, including particularly rugged sections of Stillwater Avenue, Essex Street and Maine Avenue, as well as neighborhood streets, including James, Walter and Saratoga Avenue.

This year, the budget includes more than $700,000 to prepare and pave about 10 miles of the 164 city-maintained miles of road on both sides of the city. That translates into about 19,000 tons of pavement, more than double the annual amount used during the 1970s and 1980s, said Ring, who oversees the city’s public works department.

“There’s always room for improvement, but right now we’re doing what we need to be doing,” said Ring, noting that with state projects, the city is poised to resurface its roads on an 11- or 12-year cycle. “But could we use more money? Would we like to do more? Sure. But if it’s been neglected for a period of time, it takes longer to catch up.”

After several years of providing minimal money for road improvements, the City Council boosted its investment and in 1993 approved a bond to buy 63,000 tons of paving material. Since then, the city has looked to keep its annual effort at a respectable 16,000 tons to 19,000 tons, Ring said.

Crews from Lane Construction are set to begin paving work in the city sometime next week, according to officials at the Hermon company.

The road crews’ arrival can come none too soon for motorists in the city tired of grimacing every time their car hits a bumpy stretch.

“They’re despicable,” said 67-year-old Barbara Malley of the roads. “Everybody’s car takes a beating, unless they’re swerving around to miss the potholes, and then it’s like a bunch of drunk drivers on the road.

“So where’s our tax money going?” asked Malley, who has lived on the Kitteridge Road off Stillwater Avenue for 27 years. “The roads aren’t getting any better.”

Ring disagrees.

In the past few years, the city has also stepped up its efforts to compete for state money, he said. In addition to the city projects, a number of state projects within the city limits – including Outer Odlin Road, Hammond Street and sections of Union and State streets and Outer Broadway – will also be completed this year, city officials said.

In total, the Maine Department of Transportation has budgeted more than $4.5 million to pave 30 miles of streets within the city limits during the next four years under the department’s Biennial Transportation Improvement Program.

Ring said that, if a need arose, the city could assume administrative oversight of some of those state projects, most of which require the city to contribute 10 percent of the cost.

Anything that will smooth out the bumps would be just fine for Heinrick Snyder, a delivery driver for a local pizzeria on the east side. During his two years on the job, he has driven the company’s Geo Storm though its fair share of potholes, he said.

“I usually hit one good one every now and then, but it just kind of jolts my head up and down,” said Snyder, 36, after delivering a pie to the Holiday Trailer Park off Essex Street. “There are nice roads and there are some rough roads, but you get used to it.”

Bangor Paving Schedule 2001-2002

East Side – Alden Street, Broadway to North French; Bangor Mall Boulevard, Yale to Juniper; Bill Street, East Broadway to North French; Blackston Street, Center to Leighton; Blanchard Street, Sunbury to end; Essex Street, I-95 to Grandview, Church Road to number 1786 and Burleigh to number 1593; Glenwood Drive, all; Grove Street, Garland to Mount Hope; Harlow Court, Harlow to end; Howard Street, Stillwater to Juniper; Juniper Street, Pearl to Howard; Kenduskeag Avenue, Sunbury to I-95; North French Street, Alden to Bill; North Park Street, all; Parkview Avenue, Garland to dead end; Saratoga Avenue, all; Stillwater Avenue, Grove to Howard; York Street, Exchange Street to Oak.

West Side – Bangor Alley, all; Bolling Drive, Griffin to Mitchell; Cedar Street, East; Dowd Road, to cul-de-sac; Fourth Street, Warren to Parker; Griffin Road, Union to Bolling; Hildreth Street, Bennett to 400 feet; James Street, Ohio to Highland; Kennebec Place, all; Maine Avenue, number 530 to Johnson, Johnson to 900 feet and Buchanan to Hammond; March Circle; Maxwell Lane, all; May Street, Union to Summer; Middle Street, High to Columbia; Moosehead Boulevard, Fort Knox to Deer Isle; Odlin Road, Number 900 to 1500; Pleasant Street, all; South Street, all; Third Street, Lincoln to Buck; Vine Street, all; Walter Street, all; Webster Avenue, Boutelle to Crestmont; Seventeenth Street, all.