Proposal for Explore Penobscot Narrows Plan

Prepared By:

The Hancock County Planning Commission
395 State Street
Ellsworth, Maine 04605
(207) 667-7131 (207) 667-2099 (fax)
hcpc@hcpcme.org / www.hcpcme.org

Executive Summary

This proposal outlines steps to be taken toward the creation of a Bucksport Area intermodal transportation plan. Recent changes in the regional economy, transportation infrastructure, and community revitalization provide the right environment for a careful review of the opportunities to develop passenger transportation options to support tourism and economic development, while providing mobility options to the residents of the region. This plan will incorporate input from towns, state agencies and transportation stakeholders with short, medium and long range demand forecasts to guide future planning and investments.

Introduction

The four towns located around the Penobscot Narrows, Bucksport, Orland, Prospect and Verona Island, constitute a mini-region at the crossroads between the larger labor markets of Bangor, Ellsworth and Belfast. Each of these towns has functioned independently, but all are increasingly connected by evolving economies, land use and transportation linkages. Building upon natural, historic, and economic resources this emerging region has the potential to:

Capture a larger share of the expanding tourism market.
Enhance its year-round economic development opportunities
Coordinate transportation investments to make optimal use of existing infrastructure and human resources.
Coordinate future infrastructure investments to encourage circulation among the communities utilizing transit, walking, bicycling, and the marine highway.

Transportation is a critical element in the unfolding of the Penobscot Narrows’ economic development. Route 1, Route 15, and Route 46 serve as year-round commuting corridors and truck freight routes. Route 1 serves as a major seasonal tourist route between June and September. Major transportation initiatives are increasing mobility through the region. These include:

Construction of the Waldo-Hancock Bridge.
Renovation and improvements along Route 15 and Route 46 corridors.
Expansion of transit services in Bucksport.
Growth of recreational water transportation along the Penobscot River.
“Gateway 1”corridor management strategy.
Increased commuting and freight traffic

Questions to be answered include:

What are the recent trends in transportation, population, and the economy?
How can historic assets such as Fort Knox in Prospect and Main Street in Bucksport benefit from pending changes in the transportation system?
How do we balance local road access needs with increasing levels of through-traffic by commuters, trucks and tourists?
How do we manage increasing demands for parking at specific venues and along the corridor?
How do we provide safe routes for pedestrians and cyclists?
How do we provide better access for seniors and people with disabilities?
How do we promote tourism while addressing congestion on Route One?
What land use policies and mechanisms are supporting or conflicting with State and local goals?

Objectives

Engage residents, businesses, organizations, and local leaders in the Penobscot Narrows in analysis of their current and future transportation needs.
Identify local cultural, historical and natural resource values affected by recent changes in population, economy and transportation and preferences for the future.
Build community consensus around a preferred future for Penobscot Narrows transportation and land use linkages.
Identify local, regional, and state investments and policies to support transportation goals, economic development, and local needs.
Identify transportation and land use management strategies to preserve Route One as a regional corridor.

Methodology

Critical elements for this planning process will be

Encouraging local involvement and coordination with community.
Identifying trends that will impact the region’s future transportation needs.
Identifying potential transportation providers.
Identifying potential demand for transportation services.
Identifying future transportation investments.
Identify existing and potential land use management strategies to support transportation strategies.

Task One: Public Involvement:

Meet individually with select board and planning board representatives from Prospect, Verona Island, Bucksport and Orland. Facilitate a process for identifying current needs and future goals relating to passenger transportation. Request that each town nominate one or more representatives for a future multi-town meeting. Topic areas will include:
bicycle and pedestrian trails,
elderly and non driving population needs and services,
pedestrian needs,
marine highway,
promoting tourism,
safe access to specific venues,
traffic congestion on Route One,
Hold one meeting with the Department of Conservation and their invitees to discuss their needs and future goals relating to passenger transportation and resource management.
Conduct outreach interviews with existing and potential service providers including bus, ferry, tour operators, etc. Document their input and incorporate findings in preliminary and final reports.
Consolidate input from the four towns and Department of Conservation to identify common, divergent and conflicting interests. Develop and map an annotated list of future regional passenger transportation and tourism opportunities. Incorporate findings from public input, findings from tasks two through five and transportation providers. Prepare an interim report for the participants indicating these issues and outlining a process for finding win-win solutions to divergences or conflicts.
Sponsor a regional meeting of designated representatives from the towns and Department of Conservation to review the interim report and identify and coordinate areas of common interest, including identifying future public involvement opportunities, ways the towns can formally adopt passenger transportation goals, and strategies for implementing these goals.
Sponsor a regional public meeting to present the findings from these meetings with towns. Present proposed policies, programs and projects. Respond to and document questions and comments from attendees.
Provide technical support to towns to facilitate adopting recommendations consistent with study findings. The MaineDOT will consider adopting relevant recommendations in the Six Year Plan.

Task Two: Inventory of existing conditions, transportation infrastructure and services

Population and Economic Trends
Workforce and Commuting patterns
Tourism, Recreation and Amenities
Transportation: Road, Rail, Water
Related services: Transit, Taxi, Excursions

Task Three: Inventory of existing land use policies that impact transportation

Future land use plans, zoning, site plans, subdivision ordinances and related documents.
Public infrastructure investments – e.g. Bucksport River Waterfront, Department of Conservation Verona Island Boat Ramp

Review use of Maine DOT and other publicly owned land in the area of his study
Identify land use strategies that will support the success of transportation investments

Task Four: Demand forecasts for 5, 10 and 20 years, based on population and socio-economic trends, for:

Highway use (employing secondary information as available):

Local and commuter travel
Tourism
Transit

Rail:

Assess potential for excursion rail on Bangor-Searsport or Bangor-Bucksport alignments. Possible excursion rail with excursion river boat loops.
Impacts of excursion trains on existing rail use

River/Marine:

River cruises
Ferry from Bucksport to Ft. Knox
Smaller ocean going cruse ships
Private recreational vessels

Non-motorized:

Pedestrian
Bicycle

Access to attractions:

Fort Knox
Bridge tower
Downtown
Others

Commuter and residents needs:

Park and Ride lots
Car pooling
Local & regional transit

Task Five: Identify feasible transportation investments

Information gathered in steps one through three and projections calculated in step four will be reviewed with the advisory committee and MDOT representatives.
Identify capacity of existing infrastructure and services to meet identified demands
Establish thresholds for future infrastructure needs, including the need to address future pedestrian access and safety on the new bridge will be identified.
Identify projects, programs and policies to address unmet needs
Estimate costs of proposed projects
Identify projects for possible inclusion in future Biennial Transportation Plans by the MaineDOT, as well as other state and local public and private investments.

Task Six: Draft and Final Reports:

A draft report will be prepared for review by all partners and the public. A final report, with an executive summary will be prepared following a comment period on the draft report. 100 copies of the Summary and 25 copies of the full report will be provided, as well as a CD of the report. Interim documents, maps and illustrations will be maintained on a publicly accessible web site.

Local involvement in the planning process is a key to assuring that the proposed changes serve local as well as regional needs. Local involvement in planning is also an essential element in marshaling local resources for implementation. The Hancock County Planning Commission (HCPC) would manage the public involvement process, including creation of a local advisory committee, providing information to the press, sponsoring initial open-ended meetings for idea solicitation and organizing design workshop(s).

Coordination with community and economic development will be managed by David Milan, Economic Development Director for the town of Bucksport. The Hancock County Planning Commission, Eastern Maine Development Corporation, Coastal Acadia Development Corporation and the Bucksport Area Chamber of Commerce are expected to contribute as well.

Partners

Towns of Bucksport, Orland, Prospect and Verona Island
Bucksport Economic Development Director and Committee
Greater Bucksport Chamber of Commerce
Hancock County Planning Commission
Eastern Maine Development Corporation / Penobscot Valley Council of Governments
Maine Department of Conservation
Maine Department of Transportation
Maine State Planning Office

Summary of Project Tasks

Tasks	Description
Task 1	Public Involvement
Task 2	Inventory of existing transportation infrastructure and services.
Task 3	Inventory of existing and potential land use policies that impact transportation
Task 4	Demand forecasts
Task 5	Identify feasible transportation investments
Task 6	Draft and Final Reports
EMDC Subcontract	Public Involvement
TOTAL