BANGOR, Maine — The City of Bangor is encouraging residents to get involved in shaping the future of downtown.
They are asking the community for input on 13 recommendations aimed at improving pedestrian and traffic safety and access to transportation.
The study is part of the Village Partnership Initiative in collaboration with the Bangor Area Comprehensive Transportation System and MaineDOT.
Currently, the city is in Phase 1 of the project, which includes gathering feedback from residents and planning the design for what those improvements would look like.
"They're the end users of this so that includes residents, business owners, residents, visitors," Jeff Davis, the director of engineering for the City of Bangor, said. "We want to make sure they're heard and that it works for them."
Davis said the mission of the initiative is to improve safety and the street design of downtown Bangor.
"It's something that as designers we like to see improvements done," Davis said. "This is certainly a big step towards that a big change for Bangor."
Currently the city is in Phase 1 of the project which includes gathering feedback from residents and planning the design for what those improvements would look like.
"It's really a collaboration between residents, businesses, the city that kind of makes something that works for everyone," Maddie Jensen, a planner for BACTS, said.
She is part of team mapping out how the city can incorporate more bike lanes, safer sidewalks and intersections, and improve transportation accessibility.
"We keep hearing from folks that the want more options so that they can choose something else and so this project looks at how we can make that happen," Jensen said.
The city has been reaching out to the community through events, public meetings, and surveys to gather feedback on how residents want to see downtown develop.
"Its really exciting and just sort of really emphasizing how big of an opportunity this is for this region of the city of Bangor to get what it wants out of this project," Jensen said.
Residents have until Friday, Oct. 18 to share their thoughts on recommendations for improving the downtown area. You can fill out the online survey here.