City schedules second public workshop on Downtown Bangor streetscape study

The Infrastructure Committee was notified that the second public workshop for the Downtown Bangor Transportation and Streetscape Improvement Study will be held at the Bangor Public Library on Thursday, Sept. 19, from 5 to 6:30 p.m., a staff member said.

The meeting will present preliminary recommendations developed from an earlier data-collection workshop, the staff member said: the study team will review draft ideas and invite further public comment. The study covers most of downtown, including Main Street and adjacent corridors, and will produce a final report the city intends to give to the Maine Department of Transportation for use in grant applications.

Committee members heard that proposed changes range from major street redesigns to expanded bicycle facilities and repurposing underused parking areas. The staff member said some ideas discussed include converting select streets to one-way traffic, expanding bicycle facilities, and exploring reuse of underutilized parking behind the parking garage as green space. "They have some pretty exciting stuff," the staff member said.

City staff told the committee the study has included a parking study, pedestrian counts and traffic analysis; those findings will be incorporated into a draft report that staff will return to the Infrastructure Committee after the public workshop. The committee did not take a formal vote; staff said they will present the draft recommendations at a future committee meeting before pursuing grant funding.

The workshop is intended to help shape final recommendations that will be used in the DOT grant process; additional public input at the library workshop will be folded into the consultant team’s final report.