BANGOR, Maine — Bangor has been awarded a $1.65 million grant that will let the city improve the safety of a stretch along Broadway from the Center Street intersection to the southbound lanes and off-ramps of Interstate 95.
"This project was identified in a Broadway Corridor Study that was completed in 2015," said Bangor City Engineer John Theriault. "The study identified the location as being heavily congested and having a high number of crashes. Between Center Street and the southbound on and off-ramps, there were close to 80 crashes in a three-year period."
The $1.65 million comes from the federal government’s RAISE grant program. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, announced last week that Bangor was one of fewer than 100 nationwide applications funded this year.
“We’ll be aligning the two I-95 southbound on and off-ramps, so that they actually cross the street from one another, which will make the intersection smaller, which will then make it a little safer for people to go through," said Theriault.
The city will use other funds from the grant to change Earle Avenue next to Tri-City Pizza to a "right in, right out," based on preliminary design plans.
"We're also going to take out the slip lane onto Center Street from Broadway," added Theriault. "It will stop people from hopping onto Center Street at high speeds."
The city expects to put $300,000 of its own funds toward the project
The town of Houlton has also been awarded $15 million from this federal package. The money will be used to reconstruct and make improvements to Foxcroft Road to provide safer access to healthcare and administrative facilities year-round for the local tribal community.