Sidewalk project curbs drivers’ enthusiasm

BANGOR – Curbing installed as a protective measure for Main Street pedestrians and parked vehicles has resulted in some bone-jarring run-ins for unwary motorists.

Broadway resident Wade Phillips said Thursday that he has hit the curbing in front of the Bangor House not once, but twice, racking up just more than $300 in tire repairs in less than a month.

“I got a flat there in December [when the curbing was obscured by snow] and that cost me $80,” Phillips said of his first encounter with the curb.

On Tuesday, it happened again, this time because of that night’s foggy conditions.

“I busted both tires and rims,” he said, adding that this week’s episode cost him $221, a price tag that included a tow to a Broadway repair garage.

Phillips said the wrecker driver he called to tow his vehicle told him that the change in curbing has generated “a lot” of other calls.

“I won’t hit it again, but people better slow down because you can’t see it,” Phillips warned. “It’s right in the middle of the lane.”

At issue is the alcove-shaped indentation created in front of the Bangor House as part of the city’s overhaul late last fall of downtown sidewalks and curbing. The new configuration resulted in a pair of peninsulas that jut out close to the travel lane that runs in front of the Bangor House, located near the busy Main and Union street intersection.

When the new curbing configuration was built, the city’s public works crew set out orange plastic barrels to alert motorists, Public Works Director Dana Wardwell said.

Those barrels, however, were removed late last month to accommodate snow removal and plowing efforts, Wardwell said, adding that the barrels were going back out Thursday.

Though area drivers have been grumbling about the curbing for at least the past several days, Wardwell said Thursday that he had fielded his first complaint about the matter that day.

“That’s nice,” Phillips said, adding that it would have been nicer had the barrels gone back out before his mishaps occurred.

According to Wardwell, the alcove was built into the streetscape as a way to protect pedestrians and cars parked in front of the Bangor House, an apartment complex for elderly and disabled people.

In addition to passers-by, that portion of Main Street serves as a crossing point for employees of the Merrill Bank offices across the street, whose parking lot is located on the Bangor House side of the street.

The alcove allowed the city to narrow that point of Main Street from 52 feet to 42 feet across, creating a safe haven for those trying to cross the street by foot.

It also was designed to divert traffic from the handful of parking spaces in front of the Bangor House, he said.

The barrels, Wardwell said, “are about all we can do” until spring, when weather conditions will allow for striping.