BANGOR, Maine — Residents living in the East Broadway and Lancaster Ave. area of Bangor rallied together Saturday afternoon to say enough is enough. The neighbors there held a "park in," parking their cars along both sides of the road with signs of protest in their windows.
The residents said they were gathered there for two reasons. The first is due to the dangerous speeds of people driving through the neighborhood. Jeff Gray, a resident of Lancaster Ave., said the speed limit is 15 mph through the neighborhood because of its four sharp curves in the roads.
But, Gray said a speed study was done by the city engineer and it found most people travel between 25-30 mph through the area.
He added that as we head into the winter months, high speeds in that neighborhood become even more dangerous with icy and snowy road conditions.
The other reason that brought many residents out of their homes in protest Saturday is because of a 60-unit condominium complex that was recently approved by the city planning board for the wooded area of that neighborhood.
Many of the people who live there said it would be dangerous to the neighborhood for a number of reasons.
"It would... essentially double the traffic in the neighborhood and we're already kind of at capacity now with as hazardous as it is. Plus, a lot of people are using this neighborhood as a bypass to get from Broadway to Essex Street, so we have a lot of traffic that's not associated with the neighborhood to start with," Gray said.
Gray said a group of them is suing the city over the planned condominiums. He added that the construction work can't begin until the Maine Department of Environmental Protection approves it.