Next phase of Portland transportation focus of hearing
The Maine Department of Transportation will hold a public forum on Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the University of Southern Maine's Abromson Center to discuss a feasibility study known as the Portland North Project that looks at whether the region would best be served by a commuter rail line or rapid bus service.
Portland, Lewiston-Auburn, Bath and Brunswick are projected to see significant population growth and a higher concentration of jobs in the next 20 years, and state planners want to make sure suitable public transportation will exist.
Sue Moreau, a policy development specialists at the state DOT's bureau of planning, office of passenger and multimodal planning, says the state is leaning toward a rapid bus service that would serve future commuters from the Bath and Brunswick area to and from Portland, since it's more cost effective than rail and commuting times are about the same.
The state's long-term goal is to get the Federal Transit Authority to provide funding to create a commuter service either from Lewiston-Auburn or Bath/Brunswick to Portland at a rate of 22 trips per day.
"In 2035, what is it going to look like?" is the question that Moreau says state planners and communities like Portland, Yarmouth, Falmouth and elsewhere need to ask.
The commuter rail and rapid bus service would both involve creating different train or bus stations within the city and in some communities between Lewiston-Auburn or Bath/Brunswick, she says.
"It's all about convenience, cost and, of course, to be successful, we need to have a good amount of people using it and there has to be jobs at the other end of the line," she says.
One significant factor that could influence the Maine DOT's report to the federal agency this summer is that ridership from Bath and Brunswick to and from Portland is nearly double that of Lewiston-Auburn, Moreau says.
Where the rubber hits the road is the startup capital costs of each system, Moreau says. Establishing bus lines between the city and Lewiston-Auburn and Bath/Brunswick would cost between $12 million-$16 million for each line, while price tags for commuter rail lines could top $100 million for each line.
Neither potential commuter rail project would involve the $35 million rail line expansion project that Amtrak's Downeaster will undertake this summer to extend its service from Portland to Freeport and Brunswick.
Moreau says the Portland North Project is a long-term project designed to address the future transportation needs of this region. After the state submits its initial feasibility study to the FTA this summer, it could take another five years before any design and engineering work takes place on whatever preferred transportation mode the state recommends and the federal agency supports.
"We're going to give them the best project we can," she says.
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