Bangor To Get $1.6-Million Grant To Improve Safety on Broadway

The city of Bangor received some good news Tuesday; Bangor has been awarded $1.6 million in a Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity or "RAISE" grant, from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

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Bangor City Engineer John Theriault says the city applied for the grant this past summer. The application was based on a plan put together following a Bangor Area Comprehensive Transportation System, or BACTS, funded a study back in 2014/2015.  The plan looked at Broadway from Center St. out to Grandview Avenue.

"The Broadway Corridor Study that was completed in 2015 had a bunch of short-term and long-term improvements to address safety and congestion on Broadway and so the City has kind of been working with DOT to use that study as a plan for improvement. So this is just a piece, one improvement, that was highlighted in the plan."

"What that study did point out was that the intersections and roadway sections between Center St. and the Southbound On and Offramps had an awful lot of crashes."

"It's basically a safety improvement project to address the high crashes that are occurring at Center St., Broadway, Northbound On-Ramp, and also crashes at Earle Avenue on Broadway and basically the stretch of the roadway under the bridge. And the project basically ends at the Southbound Offramps."

"It's going to realign the Southbound Onramps so that it lines up with Southbound Offramps. So that the intersection's a little smaller and tighter, basically making it a little more efficient. Earle Avene will be modified to Right In, Right Out because that was a real safety concern."

"We also have another project, that DOT gave us money for, that's probably even going to be built sooner, maybe even next year, at Granview Avenue where we're doing some pedestrian improvements and sidewalk improvements along that area."

Theriault says the City is trying to coordinate with a planned MDOT project to work on the bridge in that area which is slated to take place in 2023/2024. So it will be a little bit before the work to make these safety improvements begins.