Portland, ME - New Construction Continued

Nexis4jersey said:
It seems like a land grab for greedy developers , I can smell corruption from down here from the State of Maine...and the benefits to Maine are questionable at best....
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Cianbro and their management are the ones proposing this. The Cianchette family founded Cianbro. The Cianchette family is one of the largest donors to the Republican Party in Maine. Cianbro could potentially make a lot of money if this is built. Connect the dots.
 
Patrick said:
Check out this article on hotels http://www.portlandmonthly.com/pdf/hotels APR13.pdf
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Nice work, Patrick! I can't help but to be impressed by the amount of construction happening in our little city. If we end up having too many hotel rooms, then several of these new buildings could perhaps be reused for other purposes (housing, office space, etc). I've never been to Charleston, SC (hope to visit some day) but it seems like a good city to compare our tourism industry to.


Side note - It's hard to tell where the story ends and the ads start in Portland Magazine. This article is a good example of that. I know they need to make money though, so I won't bite the hand that occasionally feeds me.
 
Nexis4jersey said:
What are Portlanders opinions on the proposed East-West Highway in Maine?
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The state needs to build four lanes between Bath and Rockland first. Let's serve our main industry of tourism instead of worrying about Canadian truckers who are just passing through.
 
Patrick said:
Check out this article on hotels http://www.portlandmonthly.com/pdf/hotels APR13.pdf
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Nice round-up Patrick. The most surprising development to me is the Great Diamond Island hotel. My girlfriend and I rented a house in that Diamond Cove development for two weeks last summer and found it to be a very insular place. Most of the property owners we met are out-of-staters who come up for a month or two in the summer. They weren't unfriendly but it didn't seem like anyone wanted to volunteer for the welcoming committee either. I'm surprised that they wouldn't fight a hotel tooth and nail.
 
Sommarnatt said:
The state needs to build four lanes between Bath and Rockland first. Let's serve our main industry of tourism instead of worrying about Canadian truckers who are just passing through.
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Amen! But before the four lanes to Rockland..........how about 6 lanes of I-295 between Scarborough and Brunswick?
 
They need to put three lanes through Portland cause it's a damn death race around the forest ave on/off ramps. It's on par with getting on Storrow Drive or back onto route one after stopping at Kappy's......which of course I would never do
 
Portland/Maine doesn't need more highways it needs more transit and Rail....Maine is the poorest state on the East Coast and second in the US why force poor Mainers to drive everywhere when you can create a statewide bus and Rail network. The Average American spends about 7-9k a year on car maintenance and insurance , and gas. While the Average Transit user spends about 2400-3k a year....
 
Nexis4jersey said:
Portland/Maine doesn't need more highways it needs more transit and Rail....Maine is the poorest state on the East Coast and second in the US why force poor Mainers to drive everywhere when you can create a statewide bus and Rail network. The Average American spends about 7-9k a year on car maintenance and insurance , and gas. While the Average Transit user spends about 2400-3k a year....
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While Portland may be similar to Boston in many respects, I think comparing Maine to Massachusetts (or any Bos-Wash states) just doesn't work. Maine isn't very viable for much outside of long-distance or inter-city rail as a part of the Downeaster, and maybe light rail/buses in three cities at most.

That I said, I don't see a need for more highways. I say keep the focus on the cities, keep 'em dense, etc. Ferries could perhaps be interesting, though it seems Maine has enough of those.
 
That's great to hear about Thompson's Point........hopefully, we'll actually see shovels in the ground come June. I assume a 2015 opening is planned?
 
Same source that told me about thompsons point told me that new Avesta housing project next to back bay tower is starting soon
 
Sommarnatt said:
The state needs to build four lanes between Bath and Rockland first. Let's serve our main industry of tourism instead of worrying about Canadian truckers who are just passing through.
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I enjoy the roads down to the mid coast, there scenic and still retain that sense of country to them, I think most tourist would agree with that feel. There is nothing more of a turn off to me then super highways funneling you to small scenic towns like in other states. The drive to get there can set the tone for the small towns. Maine tourism industry is alot different then floridas tourism indsutry IMO.
 
When it comes to transportation, I'm very much on the side that would argue for less highways. I don't have a strong opinion either way about the East/West Highway proposal, since I literally never go further North than Portland and I don't have a car. I'm a little disappointed that some people may want more highway lanes through Portland. Building more lanes does not simply reduce traffic and it certainly does not make it easier to drive through.

Anyhow, I'll just post my usual batch of Sunday morning construction photos. If anyone wants photos of something that I am not getting photos of, let me know. Or if I am posting too many photos then tell me to take a break:

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Corey, please keep the photos coming. Enjoying your fine work.
 
Corey, keep 'em coming please. Fpr those of us who are away from Portland, they are great to keep updated.
 
As far as the more and wider highways thought is concerned, I'm of the frame of mind that we don't need more or wider highways in this state. That, to me, promotes suburbanism.

Sure, it's a rat-race around the Forest Ave. interchange on I-295, but that has less to do with the number of lanes and more to do with the fact that people simple don't know how to merge anymore, that tourists and out-of-staters get confused around there, and that the on-ramps and off-ramps are too short.

I agree that more mass transit is needed, but I'm also realistic and understand that more mass transit isn't the be-all, end-all solution to traffic issues.

You want to know the be-all, end-all solution to traffic issues? It's simple; require all traffic engineers to also have a degree in Sociology. That right there would fix all traffic issues. I can't tell you how many times I come upon an intersection, interchange or stretch of road that is a mess and think to myself - "Did the jacka$$ that designed this even consider how people actually think and process things?"

That's the biggest problem. Traffic engineers are engineers. They tend to look solely at the design and function based on a set of pre-written rules, rather than looking more at the function based on how people actually think and operate their vehicles in today’s and tomorrow's society (understanding that nobody has a crystal ball and can see into the future...one can make reasonable assumptions, though).
 
First - Corey - For a man with no car, that's a heck of a lot of walking for those awesome pics! Thanks!

Second - The East-West highway, mass transit and other highway issues.

Though I think the East-West highway deserves it's own thread, I will put my two cents in. I'm all for it. I do agree with some that corporations will profit from this, but I also believe that it will create jobs too for the average Mainer. Northern and Central Maine could use the shot in the arm too. As for scenic drives, yeah they're cool. But when you're trying to get from point A to point B to see family or for business ASAP, the scenic drives and the friggin' slow pokes have to take a backseat and step aside!

As for mass transit, I think Portland, LA, Bangor and Biddeford-Saco are perfect places for it. As for other places in Maine, I don't see it happening. Being from the Sanford/Massabesic footprint, I don't see the population supporting it (financially).

As for highways, we are LONG overdue for wider highways! Maine is growing, especially in southern Maine! Rt. 111, Rt. 202, Rt. 109, Rt. 4, Rt. 25, Rt. 302 and a lot of highways in the Biddeford-Portland-Brunswick metro are undersized and usually overwhelmed. On lot of these highways the accident rates are high too, due to congestion. The idea that we keep things the same is ridicules in my mind, and it's because of that philosophy that a lot of us have to suffer for it. Thank you voters, including myself, for the long overdue I-95 widening and the soon to be complete and beefed up Spaulding Turnpike.
 
Good points, Shazbat & StrangeHat. I feel like there might already be some sort of old thread here about general transportation issues in Maine/Greater Portland, but it is probably buried several pages back.

Top of the East (is it still going to be called that?) progress at the new Westin:

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