DOT seeks to improve busy Route 1A options

BREWER – The state is seeking ways to unclog traffic on Route 1A between Bangor and Mount Desert Island, and the Calais Branch rail bed could hold the key. The traffic worsens during tourist season.

The point of the Maine Department of Transportation’s Bangor-Trenton Transportation Alternatives Study is to find ways to reduce traffic in the U.S. Route 1A-Route 3 corridor by identifying modes of transit that won’t increase the number of single-passenger vehicles.

The study, which began in 2000, aims to determine how best to use the state-owned Calais Branch rail line, which runs almost parallel to Route 1A from Brewer to Ellsworth, as a way to move people.

During an open house Tuesday at the Brewer Auditorium, the DOT unveiled a range of travel modes, namely rail, bus and ferry, some of which might involve redeveloping the rail bed.

DOT officials and their consultants distributed a survey aimed at eliciting additional information about the study and the needs it intends to address before the study enters its next phase, DOT engineer David Nelson said.

Members of a 25-member public advisory committee appointed to provide information will meet at 1 p.m. today at the Holden Town Hall to consider the alternatives and what people from the area had to say about them.

The five transit modes now under consideration are:

. Buses, which could be operated on dedicated bus lanes.

. Bus Rapid Transit, a mode using advanced technology on dedicated guideways or on existing roads. These could seat up to 85 passengers and travel at speeds of up to 75 mph.

. Commuter rail, or passenger trains that run on steel rails separate from other types of vehicles.

. Light rail, or lightweight trains that could run on steel rails separate from other types of vehicles or alongside automobiles on existing roads.

. Ferry, which would use area waterways.

In the next phase, the DOT will take a closer look at the costs of travel modes and how they might be funded, according to Lisa DiTaranti of SYSTRA Consulting of Bloomfield, N.J., one of the consulting firms the DOT commissioned for the study. Environmental impact also will be considered.

Key findings from the first phase of the study were released last year. The main question the first phase sought to answer was if visitors and residents would use other travel modes, namely bus, rail or ferry, or some combination thereof.

What researchers learned is that residents and tourists would use bus or rail service to get from the Bangor-Brewer area to Bar Harbor, if such services were available. Tourists, however, would be more likely to use a ferry service than would residents because the trip would take twice as long.