Left-turn ban onto Howard St. permanent

BANGOR – A ban on left turns from State Street to Howard Street became permanent Wednesday night when city councilors voted 7-2 to replace the orange construction barrels now blocking that driving maneuver with a concrete traffic island.

The left-turn prohibition was one of three steps city officials agreed to try for six months in an effort to reduce the volume and speed of traffic on Howard Street, which in recent years had had steady increases in traffic.

Howard, which many motorists had been using as a throughway to and from the Bangor Mall area, runs between busy State Street and Stillwater Avenue. It crosses Garland Street, where one of the city’s middle schools is located. It also intersects with Mount Hope Avenue.

The other two steps, which councilors earlier agreed to leave in place, were a raised crosswalk and a traffic island, both built on Howard.

The ban on left turns was implemented in a temporary, low-tech manner with city employees placing several orange barrels on the section of State Street leading to Howard to block vehicles from making the turn.

It appears to have had the intended effect, at least on Howard Street.

City Engineer Jim Ring said last week that daily traffic volumes for Howard Street have dropped more than 30 percent since left turns were banned and the raised crosswalk and traffic island were built.

Daily traffic volumes also have decreased on Birch Street and the section of Mount Hope Avenue west of Howard, but the number of vehicles using Fern and Maple streets has increased, Ring said.

In addition, Bellevue Avenue, which runs parallel to Howard, has had a major traffic increase because it now is part of a dogleg route State Street drivers are using to get to Howard. They apparently are turning left onto Bellevue, left onto Garland and then right onto Howard.

In other meeting action, the councilors:

. Approved the transfer of $200,000 from last year’s school department fund balance to the Garland Street athletics field reserve.

. Authorized a liquor license for Miguel’s Mexican Restaurant at 697 Hogan Road.