Racino work to pause for fest Concrete to come after folk weekend

BANGOR – Though construction of its $131 million permanent gaming and hotel complex on Main Street is in full swing, Hollywood Slots at Bangor will temporarily suspend delivery of some key construction components to accommodate the American Folk Festival on the Bangor Waterfront, set for Aug. 24-26.

“As it relates to our project, we have decided to not have any large deliveries on Friday or Saturday,” Hollywood Slots spokeswoman Amy Kenney, who serves on the festival’s board of directors, said Tuesday.

“It’s just a short amount of time, and the public has been so patient with our construction project to date,” she said. “Any time we have an opportunity to assist with a major event in the city, we’ll always do it.”

The new facility will replace Hollywood Slots at Bangor’s interim operation in the former Miller’s Restaurant building a few blocks up Main Street.

Slated to open in mid-2008, the new complex will include, among other things, a gaming facility for up to 1,500 slot machines, a seven-story hotel, which is just beginning to take shape, a four-level parking garage, a restaurant and retail space.

Construction began in May, and steel beams for the hotel began going up in July. More recently, steel for the actual gaming complex began arriving this week.

Next Monday, large concrete columns made in Saint John, New Brunswick, for the parking garage are scheduled to begin arriving at the 8-acre work site across from Bass Park.

According to Kenney, the concrete columns will be trucked to Bangor from New Brunswick on Route 9.

“The intent is to come into the city via Interstate 395, if approved by the DOT,” Kenney said.

That, however, would require a waiver of the federally imposed 80,000-pound weight limit on Maine’s highways, including I-395.

City Engineer Jim Ring said he hoped the waiver would be granted, because without it, the trucks carrying the concrete columns will have to travel through parts of downtown Brewer and Bangor to reach the Hollywood Slots construction site.

“From our standpoint, [being able to use I-395] would be ideal because it’s just one more example of how much more efficient and safe the movement [of the heavy trucks] would be, even for a short duration,” he said.

One of the I-395 exit ramps empties no more than a few hundred feet from the work area, he noted.