BANGOR – Maine Savings Federal Credit Union is one step closer to breaking ground on a new facility after the planning board Tuesday night approved the institution’s site development plan and its conditional use plan.

The credit union’s proposed 6,000-square-foot building will be at 671 Broadway, directly across from Dairy Queen. Members of the five-person planning board questioned the credit union’s traffic consultant and site engineer for nearly an hour about the plan to build an institution on the busy artery.

The snag seen by board member Nathaniel Rosenblatt was the plan to have the driveway link directly with Broadway, causing, he said, potential traffic problems and further traffic congestion in an already congested area.

The traffic consultant, Jennifer Williams of Gorrill-Palmer Consulting Engineers, said studies have been completed about the current traffic situation and the effects the institution would have on traffic. She added that during peak hours, between 4:30 and 5:30 p.m., cars would be waiting 55 seconds in the driveway of the institution to get onto Broadway, and an average of two cars would be lined up in the center lane to make a left-hand turn.

Chairman Robert Guerette suggested that Maine Savings have an entrance leading from the Broadway Shopping Center.

Site engineer Don Becker quashed the idea, saying the owner of the parking lot, Bangor Savings Bank, vetoed the plan because it is a competitor of Maine Savings.

To accommodate the additional traffic, Williams advised that the signal timing on Broadway be changed.

“The problem is not so much a few more cars to [patronize] this facility, but it is the way people drive,” Vice Chairman Hal Wheeler said in reference to perhaps stricter enforcement of speed limits and driving styles on Broadway.

Despite Rosenblatt’s thorough questioning and concern for problems posed by the new federal credit union, both motions passed. Based upon the approval of conditional use, Maine Savings must submit to City Engineer Jim Ring the traffic simulation model for approval before proceeding.

Maine Savings plans to break ground in July, Ed Theriault, the project’s architect, said after the hearing.