Hancock County, ME

Hancock County, ME - Transportation

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Project Background

The small city of Ellsworth, Maine is experiencing growth beyond its intended capacity. As a small rural community with some larger urban challenges, Ellsworth struggles to keep up with the demands of providing safe and accessible transportation infrastructure. The High Street corridor is a roughly 2.25 mile commercial strip surrounded by residential and mixed-use neighborhoods. The traffic load for the High Street corridor is immense for a small rural community. The area also frequently floods and has a major negative environmental impact on Card Brook, which receives drainage from High Street. The City recently updated its Business Attraction Plan and recommended a High Street Master Plan to examine the unsafe pedestrian environment, traffic congestion, and flooding.

Description of the Community:

Ellsworth is a unique city in that it has both urban and rural qualities in that it is a small town but also the gateway to Acadia National Park, which is the biggest tourist attraction in Maine, and is the only urban center for the entirety of Hancock County. Ellsworth does not receive tourism income nor local wealth/income communities near Acadia and is capacity constrained. Ellsworth's population is approximately 8,400.

Project Scope of Work:

The town will be using a subgrant to hire a consultant to develop a High Street Corridor Master Plan. Since this amount of the subgrant is limited to perform all facets of the Master Plan, CECorps' will support the consultant by performing a stormwater assessment of the High Street corridor. The assessment would include evaluating green stormwater best management practices to reduce flooding and improve the water quality of Card Brook. CECorp would also review the existing stormwater regulations developed in 2012 and recommend changes to city ordinances. CECorps would also assist the city in evaluating the use of a stormwater management utility for the High Street corridor.

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