Brunswick Development
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TC_zoid
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Nope. I'm not putting my luxury toys in this crowded complex of mediocrity. And if they can't spend a few more dollars on the images, then it's bogus. Simply calling it a place for the rich to live does not make it that. (Google "Porsche Design Tower in Miami." -- the real deal.)
TC_zoid
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Or, like John Travolta does at his Florida mansion (he did have a place in Maine with his now deceased wife), taxi the 737 up to the house. I'm guessing he's traded in his ancient 707.
https://www.velvetropes.com/backstage/john-travolta-house
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Tom Nevers
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Photos depict progress on the Citizen at Union and Pleasant and the Tontine Mall at Maine and School. The latter is an especially cool project as it added two stories of residential to an existing structure.
Tom Nevers
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The John and Lile Gibbons Center for Arctic Studies on Bowdoin’s campus at the corner of College and Sills is taking shape.
Tom Nevers
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There are a couple here along with a good write up of the project.
Construction Begins on Center for Arctic Studies and Mills Hall at Bowdoin College
The mass timber Center for Arctic Studies reinforces Bowdoin College’s commitment to arctic research and environmental sustainability.
hga.com
Notably, a second similarly angular structure will be constructed next to this one.
TC_zoid
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Bowdoin has built some beautiful and notable buildings of late; the Passive House dorms, the Roux Center for the Environment, and now the Arctic Studies buildings. I see only bigger and more prestigious things for this school (the train tether to Boston is key).
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Dr. StrangeHat
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Hard to tell from the pictures, but are those LVLs for the rafters or giant timbers?
Kind of old news, but it looks like the town is moving ahead with some of the proposed changes to Pleasant Street: https://www.pressherald.com/2021/10...on-improvements-on-congested-pleasant-street/
Highlights:
Highlights:
- Additional right turn lane from Mill St southbound to Pleasant St westbound
- Additional crosswalks at that intersection
- Roundabout connecting 295 ramps to Route 1 has been de-prioritized.
Thanks for posting, regardless. Looks like they are also proposing two left turn lanes onto Mill St, left and right turn lanes at River Road and two left turn lanes at Church Road. I wish they had posted the study the town engineer refers to - I'm assuming its more recent than the 2011 corridor master plan that is available on the town website?
I guess in my thought experiment I can't see how a second right turn off Mill St makes much of a difference as that whole stretch down to the Fort Andross Mill remains one lane. Same for two left turn lanes onto Mill St - that just moves the pinch point after the intersection. I guess this could help people going straight on Pleasant or right on Sherwood but it all depends on how long the turn lanes are - they can't be that long though because River Road is close by and the Mill St traffic easily extends way past in the summer. I would think there would still be Mill St traffic clogging the thru lane regardless of adding a second left turn, possibly adding more confusion to an intersection where they are now going to try and merge into the turn lanes and then immediately navigate what I assume to be an alternate merge.
Sorry for the mess of thoughts - I guess I'm having trouble envisioning the layout they are proposing. There really isn't much room (if any) to add additional lanes near Mill St. I hope this isn't like the "fix" to Wiscasset's downtown - maybe that shaved a little off the line but every time I try and travel through there in the summer it's still painful. Didn't LePage pitch a bridge over Wiscasset downtown?
I guess in my thought experiment I can't see how a second right turn off Mill St makes much of a difference as that whole stretch down to the Fort Andross Mill remains one lane. Same for two left turn lanes onto Mill St - that just moves the pinch point after the intersection. I guess this could help people going straight on Pleasant or right on Sherwood but it all depends on how long the turn lanes are - they can't be that long though because River Road is close by and the Mill St traffic easily extends way past in the summer. I would think there would still be Mill St traffic clogging the thru lane regardless of adding a second left turn, possibly adding more confusion to an intersection where they are now going to try and merge into the turn lanes and then immediately navigate what I assume to be an alternate merge.
Sorry for the mess of thoughts - I guess I'm having trouble envisioning the layout they are proposing. There really isn't much room (if any) to add additional lanes near Mill St. I hope this isn't like the "fix" to Wiscasset's downtown - maybe that shaved a little off the line but every time I try and travel through there in the summer it's still painful. Didn't LePage pitch a bridge over Wiscasset downtown?
markhb
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A bypass was proposed, but IIRC it turned out that there were eagles nesting in its path which killed the project.
Nah, don't blame it on eagles. The Wiscasset bypass would have cost north of $100 million and Route 1 traffic was already trending downwards for years when it was cancelled:
https://www.clf.org/blog/shelving-the-wiscasset-bypass-is-smart/
MaineDOT simply doesn't have the money to throw away on roadway expansion projects. Besides, road widenings have a century-long track record of failure: we've spent billions of dollars on new roads but traffic is worse than it's ever been: Vox.com: How highways make traffic worse
https://www.clf.org/blog/shelving-the-wiscasset-bypass-is-smart/
MaineDOT simply doesn't have the money to throw away on roadway expansion projects. Besides, road widenings have a century-long track record of failure: we've spent billions of dollars on new roads but traffic is worse than it's ever been: Vox.com: How highways make traffic worse
TC_zoid
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Sometimes yes, a failure. However, picture the York to South Portland turnpike expansion to 3 lanes if that had never happened. Only two lanes for people entering Maine in the summer? They would have spilled out to Route 1. I think now the South Portland to Portland exit 48 stretch is expanding to 3 lanes? Probably a good idea with the new Rock Row development. What has happened is a lifestyle change. Now it's nearly all cars with one person inside. In many cities carpools used to be 3 people and now it's 2.
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Cosakita18
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In a world where the turnpike was never winded, traffic would definitely be bad at times… But there would also be a lot more people riding Downeaster
Widening highways isn’t the way to solve increased travel demand. That’s been demonstrated time and time again all over the country. It’s called induced demand.
TC_zoid
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I don't see how the legions of out-of-staters entering the York toll plaza in the summer in their campers, cars, pickups, and SUVs with canoes, kayaks, sailboats, dirt bikes, and bicycles, and then the insides stuffed to the hilt with kids, pets, coolers, beach furniture, bedding, groceries, etc., would or could take the train. It's like a religious exodus.
Yeah, I feel like every time I read/hear about induced demand the assumption is usually work travel not leisure travel. And you're right people traveling to Maine for vacation are not here for a walking tour of Portland. The cars are LOADED with stuff.
I got news for you, the Turnpike still gets backed up after the widening – according to their own data, there are more cumulative delays on the Turnpike today than there were before the widening project started, and according to the decennial Census, average commute times for the typical York and Cumberland County worker are longer than they were in 2000, too.
"Induced demand" is about work *and* leisure trips – the fact that, if people expect to find a wide-open road, they're more likely to drive alone for a trip that they might otherwise have taken a plane or a bus for, or taken at a less-busy time, or not taken at all.
Also, assuming that we "need" to widen roads to accommodate growth (like Rock Row) isn't based in any evidence whatsoever: it's an attractive myth perpetuated by quack highway engineers, just like quack doctors who once convinced people that leeches cured cancer. Downtown Portland has added about a million SF of new office space and thousands of new homes in the past decade with no new car lanes. Boston is growing much faster than us and they're actively taking car lanes away from major roads to make room for more efficient travel modes. Many even more successful global cities are moving even more aggressively to remove highway lanes and put them to better use.
The Turnpike Authority recently spent over $100 million to widen a few miles of highway in Portland (which has never been a bottleneck by any stretch); the same amount of local investment matched with federal grants could have electrified the Downeaster rail line and added freight rail capacity to take hundreds of trucks off the roads and give passengers a 100-minute train ride to Boston.
"Induced demand" is about work *and* leisure trips – the fact that, if people expect to find a wide-open road, they're more likely to drive alone for a trip that they might otherwise have taken a plane or a bus for, or taken at a less-busy time, or not taken at all.
Also, assuming that we "need" to widen roads to accommodate growth (like Rock Row) isn't based in any evidence whatsoever: it's an attractive myth perpetuated by quack highway engineers, just like quack doctors who once convinced people that leeches cured cancer. Downtown Portland has added about a million SF of new office space and thousands of new homes in the past decade with no new car lanes. Boston is growing much faster than us and they're actively taking car lanes away from major roads to make room for more efficient travel modes. Many even more successful global cities are moving even more aggressively to remove highway lanes and put them to better use.
The Turnpike Authority recently spent over $100 million to widen a few miles of highway in Portland (which has never been a bottleneck by any stretch); the same amount of local investment matched with federal grants could have electrified the Downeaster rail line and added freight rail capacity to take hundreds of trucks off the roads and give passengers a 100-minute train ride to Boston.