Air travel an option for 1A-3 traffic snarl

HOLDEN – Participants in a Maine Department of Transportation study on Wednesday added air travel to a list of possible solutions for unclogging traffic between Bangor and Bar Harbor.

The addition was made in response to comments offered Tuesday during an open house in Brewer to review other transportation options being considered by the Bangor-Trenton Transportation Alternatives Study to reduce congestion along the U.S. Route 1A-Route 3 corridor – a problem that worsens during tourist season.

In its quest for solutions, the DOT is studying ways the state-owned Calais Branch rail bed might be used or converted to accommodate modes of transit that won’t increase the number of single-passenger vehicles.

The DOT study began in 2000.

During an open house at the Brewer Auditorium, the DOT unveiled a range of travel modes, including rail, bus and ferry.

After reviewing the results of a survey distributed during the open house, members of a DOT public advisory committee agreed to consider aircraft along with five other alternatives already being studied.

The other five transit modes now under consideration are bus, commuter rail, light rail and ferry services, along with bus rapid transit, a mode using advanced technology on dedicated guideways or on existing roads.

In the next phase, the DOT will take a closer look at the costs of each travel mode and how each one might be funded, DOT engineer David Nelson said. Environmental impact also will be considered He said that the ultimate choice could be a single mode or a combination thereof. He said the DOT’s plan is to narrow the list to a few realistic alternatives by sometime next spring.

Key findings from the first phase of the study were released last year. The main question the first phase sought to answer was whether visitors and residents would use other travel modes.

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.

Researchers also found that light-rail transit would have the highest use because of fast service and visitor preference, while buses would draw the next highest because they would offer a trip without transfers, best suiting residents’ needs.