Portland, ME - New Construction Continued

[Patrick]

thanks for the info corey, I hadn't heard about that either. Only certain projects of a certain size have to undergo major site plan review by the planning board, so I wonder if that may have something to do with the lack of attention this has received? Just speculating, but I don't really know for sure.

 

[Patrick]

From facebook Portland CityLine updates:
Tomorrow, rail materials for DownEaster Expansion will be delivered and seriously impact traffic at each of the railroad crossings from Riverside St to Congress St.The offloading of rails is scheduled to begin at noon at Riverside St crossing until 6PM and will be impact crossings at Allen Ave, Read and Walton St, Forest Ave at Woodfords Corner, and Congress St.

 

[MonopolyBag]

Nice! I love how... (I just typed "I love you and deleted the word you") I love how the DownEaster expansion is already going on and rail is not yet up to par in the rest of the country. Just who really is going to travel much past Portland ME? I know maybe for fall time and vacation but that is it. I guess this is more what it is intended for only running a few (I think 5) times a day.

Probably since it is Amtrak vs. some public service.

 

[Patrick]

You are right that north of Portland is not exactly a high travel destination, but consider the following: Brunswick is technically still part of the Portland Metro area, and the highest travel destination for tourists in the state is Freeport (on the way to brunswick, but not a real year round town like Brunswick). I'm not saying Freeport is the best place in Maine--far from, actually--but MANY people enjoy the outlets there. I think another factor is that Brunswick is the connection to Maine's bustling summer coastal tourism industry. lastly, the tracks are already there, and just need an upgrade (they currently work, but only for slow travel)==this improvement will make it work for "regular" speed travel (i.e., normal speeds), and I think there will only be about 2 trips per day last I heard. Also remember this is a federal recovery investment grant, and not an investment made purely because of demand.

 

[cneal]

There's also an existing passenger railroad - Maine Eastern - that already runs from Brunswick to Rockland in the summer months. It's mostly used for day excursions, but some people use it for intercity travel, especially on summer weekends and during the lobster festival when traffic is terrible. When the Downeaster connects through in Brunswick, I expect a lot more vacationers from Boston and points south will use the Maine Eastern line to bypass the chronically-congested Route 1 coastal route all the way to Penobscot Bay.

Also, both Freeport and Brunswick have major new transit-oriented developments recently completed or underway in the vicinities of their respective stations. Freeport's Village Station development opened last year and is now working on adding a movie theater; in Brunswick, the new Maine Street Station has leased its first building and is now constructing a new hotel on Maine Street. Both projects got underway in anticipation of the Downeaster expansion.

http://www.maine-street-station.com/index.html

Brunswick is also home to Bowdoin College, another significant transit destination.

And here's the Freeport project - it's been open for about a year now:

http://www.berensonassociatesinc.com/newprojects_freeport.asp

 

[MonopolyBag]

The college I overlooked before I posted. How do you think UNH Durham students get home?

Yeah I have nothing against the build. I just find it kind of ironic that we can some how make this more important that building rail elsewhere. If I had it my way, I would like to see rail both ME and everywhere else, so I am not saying it shouldn't be built.

Yeah, after looking into I guess there may be a bit more demand. Who doesn't stop at Freeport. Brunswick has the college.

I would love to see rail;e expanded maybe to Acadia park eventually, but I do not think there are already track layed there. But that would be nice.

 

[Patrick]

Maine strategically positioned itself perfectly in terms of the timing for receipt of the grant funding most of this project. Other states are lagging behind, and therefore the money is too. Investments and planning were done before and in anticipation of the Obama administration's commitment to investing in intercity rail across the nation. Many other metro areas are in fact receiving similar (in many cases much more) federal investment dollars for these types of projects.

 

[cneal]

I've written a post on http://rightsofway.blogspot.com/ about the Gorham East-West Corridor study, which, among other things, is calling for a major expansion in transit services to Gorham, Scarborough, and Windham over the next 25 years:

It's also calling for denser development in village and town center areas to create neighborhoods where residents won't have to drive everywhere to run errands. It remains to be seen if and how it would be implemented, but very intriguing nonetheless...

 

[FrankLloydMike]

Wow! That looks like the type of proposal that could really transform and unify a region. That's excellent. I'd like to see more similarly sized cities in New England consider something similar.

 

[Patrick]

While I lack an intimate familiarity with this project, my understanding was that it was primarily a highway study, which I think would be bad. The more capacity added, the more cars arrive to use it up. As I said, I don't know this project too well inside and out, so I'll read your post before finalizing my thoughts on it.

Edit -- and speaking of MDOT transportation projects, I was at the public hearing on the Portland North project last night, and apparently the revised conclusion date for deciding upon a final project is December (originally it was supposed to have been this past summer). That plan, too, it seems, is flawed. Although anything will be an improvement, it seems like the strings attached to planning processes are really prohibitive sometimes. For instance, last night at the meeting it was asked whether or not Amtrak service north was factored into the decision making process: answer: NO! we found out about the grant to enable amtrak extension half way through and had to start over. Then there are funding strings attached, too, where projects are assessed not on their merits but on the ability they have to attract investment dollars. There is so much red tape and bureaucracy involved in these things that explain why the products of some decisions are just simply illogical looking to most outsiders. Planning as a concept is neat; planning as a profession is in need of some change.

 

[Patrick]

Corey, I'm beginning to get a little down about your chronicling/documenting of this site. This photo is one I noticed when going through old threads from 2008. It seems like you have documented the growth of weeds on this site in the past 3 or 4 years. I should feel happy, though, that you don't do the same for the Waterview site! Can something finally be BUILT? That's all.

 

[MonopolyBag]

Not the bets time for developers and builders to be putting money into things. Although if EVERYONE did just act as if our economy was not bad (ie. buy, shop, build, spend, not lay off jobs, and not worry) then our economy would get better

 

[Corey]

From what I understand, the Bay House is still a go so hopefully I can take a picture of that site with some construction started someday! Otherwise, I assume they would have closed the model unit on Market/Milk Street.

Things are looking good here, picture from yesterday:

 

[Patrick]

From what I understand, the Bay House is still a go so hopefully I can take a picture of that site with some construction started someday! Otherwise, I assume they would have closed the model unit on Market/Milk Street.

Things are looking good here, picture from yesterday:

Thanks Corey. I tried to take some photos of the structure the other day but it was too dark. Been meaning to get out and try again, but too busy. So thanks! Good to see it from that angle, too, because it shows the federal street town houses, and will look great with the new Bay House someday. Here's an old picture showing the same angle you took a while back, when the fed street town houses were under construction:

 

[Patrick]

Quality isn't great because I had to take these quick before security questioned what I was doing. This is the expansion of the International Jetport.

 

[Corey]

 

[Patrick]

Thanks corey, a nice shot indeed. I took some of this structure a few days ago from the fore street angle, but have yet to download them. You can see that they are starting to expand the footprint now. The structure has really risen faster than I thought it would. Nice!

 

[Corey]

I agree, it really seems to be going up fast. The Jetport expansion looks good, seems like a natural expansion.

 

[Patrick]

Just checked and I totally deleted (by accident) all the new pics I took of the hotel rising. What most of them showed is how the structure's base footprint has now moved eastward and is beginning to rise there, too.

 

[Patrick]

Just checked and I totally deleted (by accident) all the new pics I took of the hotel rising. What most of them showed is how the structure's base footprint has now moved eastward and is beginning to rise there, too.

just kidding, got 'em.