Perspective 2011: Economic Development

Page 1

Perspective April 9

Cyan Magenta Yellow Black

Page 2

Persepctive April 9

Cyan Magenta Yellow Black

2, Saturday | April 9, 2011, Bangor Daily News

CONSTRUCTION

CMD Powersystems DaVinci Signs Dysart’s Real Estate Freedom Power Equipment Hermon True Value JB Paint J.M. Brown Construction Northeast Restoration & Remodeling Scott’s Lawn Care/P.A. Lyford Inc. SMC Snowman Printing Northern Maine Development Corp. . . . . . .6 Town of Hermon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11 UMaine Laboratory for Surface Science & Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

Consigli Construction Corp. . . . . . . . . . . . .22 Nickerson & O’Day Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

EDUCATION

ADVERTISER INDEX PERSPECTIVE 2011 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

SPECIAL SECTIONS WRITING TEAM Debra Bell David Fitzpatrick Brian Swartz ADVERTISING SALES TEAM Brian Cotlar Ben Drouin Amy Hayden Linda Hayes Kristin Hurd Kathy Keegan

Debbie Niles Jeff Orcutt Michelle Thomas CREATIVE SERVICES TEAM Faith Burgos Bridgit Cayer Michele Prentice Chris Quimby Pam Tweedie Sam Wood

Perspective 2011 is online at

www.bangordailynews.com If you would like to advertise in Perspective 2012 or if you would like to publish your own special advertising supplement,please contact Sales Managers Beth Grant at (207) 990-8251,bgrant@bangordailynews.com, or Nicole Stevens at (207) 990-8213,nstevens@bangordailynews.com, or (toll free in Maine) at 1-800-432-7964,Ext.8251 or 8213.

ACCOMMODATIONS Caribou Inn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 Comfort Inn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 Hampton Inn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 Knights Inn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 Ramada Inn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16

COMMUNICATIONS Oxford Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 Whitten’s 2-Way Radio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24

DISTRIBUTORS Gilman Electric Supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT Advanced Structures and Composites Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Eastern Maine Development Corp. . . . . . .10 Hermon Business Parks . . . . . . . . . . . . .12-13 Auto Paint Supply Bangor Auto and Truck B & B Paving Caron Signs

UMaine College of Engineering . . . . . . . . . .2

ENGINEERING & CONSTRUCTION CES Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18

HOME IMPROVEMENT Allen Farm Fence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 Hammond Lumber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES Rudman Winchell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22 ServiceMaster Clean . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24

TRANSPORTATION Bangor Truck & Trailer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25 Daigle & Houghton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25 Freightliner of Maine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26 Maine Motor Transport Association . . . . .23 O’Connor Motors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28 Traction Heavy Duty Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

TRAVEL Bangor International Aorport . . . . . . . . . . .17 City of Ellsworth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 Acadia Village & Resort Bar Harbor Bank & Trust Bragdon-Kelley Funeral Homes Comfort Inn Hampton Inn Knights Inn Maine Coast Memorial Hospital Ramada Inn Richard Parks Furniture Sylvia’s Cafe

INSURANCE Cross Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 Varney Agency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

UTILITIES Bangor Hydro-Electric Corp. . . . . . . . . . . . .9

Page 3 Perspective April 9

Cyan Magenta Yellow Black Bangor Daily News, Saturday | April 9, 2011, 3

Page 4

Perspective April 9

Cyan Magenta Yellow Black

4, Saturday | April 9, 2011, Bangor Daily News

Page 5

Perspective April 9

Cyan Magenta Yellow Black Bangor Daily News, Saturday | April 9, 2011, 5

PERSPECTIVE 2011 CONSTRUCTION

Photos by Terry Farren

As the $24 million Brewer Community School nears its summer 2011 completion, Nickerson & O’Day Assistant Superintendent Chris Russell (left) meets with President/CEO Karl Ward.

The Nickerson & O’Day craftsmen currently renovating Maine Hall at the former Bangor Theological Seminary campus meet briefly with President/CEO Karl Ward (in red vest) outside the 178-year-old former dormitory.

Nickerson & O’Day’s Quality Work is Found in Many Maine Buildings ■ BY RICHARD R. SHAW

F

ifty-nine years is a long time for one company to stay in business, but with a solid work ethic and sturdy foundation, longevity happens.

When Leroy Nickerson and Gerry O’Day founded their construction company in 1953, they began building a reputation one brick at a time. A Dead River Co. office project, completed on Aug. 28, 1953, was their first success. Thousands more followed.

Libraries, theaters, schools, churches, hospitals, and office buildings are among the new and renovated landmarks that Nickerson & O’Day has to its credit. The award-winning Brewer constructors are known for their ability to come in ahead of schedule and under budget, a reputation not likely to change in the next 59 years.

“You’re not going to find a better time to build than now,” said Karl Ward, president and CEO since 2007. “We’ve hit the bottom of the recession, and we’re starting to see private projects come our way. Interest rates are low, construction prices are very low, making this a buyer’s market.”

During a recent interview, the tech-savvy Ward received 21 e-mails and five text messages on his Blackberry within a half-hour. In any given day, he’s likely to hear from project managers and subcontractors in the field who know the buck stops with him.

“We have 39 projects pending that we have an interest in,” he said. “We do $15,000 to $20,000 worth of work every hour. That’s a lot of responsibility, and maintaining schedules, accounting, budgeting, and warranty work is crucial.”

Ward said an average project size is $400,000, so small that Nickerson & O’Day has much repeat business. Past projects on a larger scale have included returning to the Bangor Public Library to build a second addition, and a return to All Souls Congregational Church for another wing.

A wing was added to the Fields Pond Nature Center in Holden, and Nickerson & O’Day will return to Fogler Library at the University of Maine

to update heating and cooling units. The company renovated Wells Commons and 1888 Coburn Hall on campus and built the Buchanan Alumni House, along with such Husson University landmarks as the William H. Beardsley Meeting House, which houses classrooms and Gracie Theatre. The Bangor Police Department is a Nickerson & O’Day building, along with the Brewer Public Safety Building.

“There’s a $4 million job at the MDI Biological Research Lab at Salisbury Cove, to be named Marshall Hall,” Ward said. “This work will replace a 40year-old research lab building, and we have an endof-year completion date.”

Nickerson & O’Day has come full circle with the new Bangor Y project at Union and Second streets.

It built the YMCA on Hammond Street four decades ago, built both the Means and Aloupis pools, and now is building a new Bangor Y that blends into a historic neighborhood. Seven houses were razed and a 20-foot retaining wall built. The original 1929 YWCA building and the 1833 Isaac Farrar mansion are included in the Y complex.

Other historic downtown properties entrusted to Nickerson & O’Day’s careful restoration are Hammond Street Congregational Church, whose wooden steeple is in need of restoration, reflashing, and refinishing, and Maine Hall, a 1834 brick dormitory on the campus of the former Bangor Theological Seminary. Both projects are due for completion later this year.

“My parents were married at Hammond Street church in 1962,” said Ward, “and as for Maine Hall, we’ve stripped it to the bare bones, and you can see and feel the history. Joshua Chamberlain likely walked the halls of that building before his Civil War service.”

The $4 million Maine Hall project will provide needed affordable housing. Restoration money was provided by Community Housing of Maine and historic tax credits.

Shifting gears to new construction on a major scale, Nickerson & O’Day has completed the first phase of the $26 million Army Regional Training Institute in Bangor. The V-shaped wing will include See PROJECTS, Page XX

Nickerson & O’Day President/CEP Karl Ward (right) confers with Project Superintendent Jeff Merrill at the $26 million Army Regional Training Institute site in Bangor. Phase 1 (background left) is almost complete; Phase 2 is taking shape (background, right).

Page 6

Perspective April 9

Cyan Magenta Yellow Black

6, Saturday | April 9, 2011, Bangor Daily News PERSPECTIVE 2011 ACCOMMODDATIONS & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

The Crown of Maine Balloon Festival Brings High Flight to Central Aroostook County ■ BY BRIAN SWARTZ SPECIAL SECTIONS EDITOR

A

n unheralded festival held every August in Presque Isle lets some visitors float high above central Aroostook County.

The Crown of Maine Balloon Fest brings balloonists to the Star City for a fun-filled weekend featuring “balloon glows,” exciting

balloon chases across hill and dale, a citywide yard sale, and other events commemorating Presque Isle’s role as the launch site for the first successful transatlantic balloon flight.

Held at the Northern Maine Fairgrounds (accessible from the main entrance on Mechanic Street and a rear gate on State Street), the Crown of Maine Bal-

loon Fest represents a laid-back version of Lewiston-Auburn’s Great Falls Balloon Festival, held to packed crowds a week earlier.

Some balloonists and their equipment travel from Lewiston to Presque Isle, arriving on Thursday to “ignite” the Crown of Maine Balloon Fest with the first “balloon glow.”

Each dusk, weather and winds permitting, balloonists inflate their balloons with propaneignited flames that illuminate the balloons’ interiors. Although still ground-tethered, the balloons rise against the starry Aroostook sky; a flame illuminates a balloon here, another balloon there, and sometimes the announcer asks two or three particular balloonists to “flame on” simultaneously.

The result? Beautiful imagery and vibrant colors glowing in the night sky.

Earlier each evening, the balloons launch individually from the Northern Maine Fairgrounds and drift away into the dwindling daylight. One perfect Friday evening, a few thousand people

NEWS Photos by Brian Swartz

The rising moon competes for stratospheric attention with a balloon flying over Presque Isle on a late August evening. Held in Presque Isle each summer, the Crown of Maine Balloon Festival lures more than a dozen balloonists and balloons to Presque Isle for a weekend’s festivities.

watched enthralled as the colorful balloons ascended and drifted directly overhead before slipping eastward. From the fairgrounds, onlookers could see balloons descending a short distance away to hover above the placid Presque Isle Stream — where hundreds of

After launching from the Northern Maine Fairgrounds in Presque Isle, a balloonist hovers his colorful lighter-than-air-craft over the Aroostook River just past a Sunday dawn (left). The balloon “Sinbad” brightens internally during a 9 p.m. “Balloon Glow” held at the fairgrounds (above).

people gathered to take photos.

Each morning — and again weather- and wind-permitting — balloonists inflate and launch their balloons at dawn. Floating directionally with the air currents, balloons drift east along the Presque Isle Stream and across downtown Presque Isle or northeast across the Aroostook River to move quietly above potato and broccoli fields.

Balloon chasers love such mornings. Equipped with cameras and road maps (the Maine Atlas & Gazetteer provides the best-detailed County maps), folks pile into cars, trucks, and vans and pursue the drifting balloons. Last year, the Sunday morning launch saw several balloons cross the Aroostook River parallel to the Route 1 bridge — and one balloonist briefly hovered above the river’s summerdiminished flow while balloon chasers lined the bridge to take incredible photographs.

Then the balloon chasers followed the balloons across the high ridges accessed by Higgins Road and Parkhurst Road. The rising sun cast the balloons in perfect light against a cloudless blue sky; escorted by powered hang gliders, individual balloons gradually descended to thump against fertile Aroostook soil.

Each balloonist’s chase team arrived to “bag” their balloon and transport it to the Northern Maine Fairgrounds.

For a set price, intrepid adventurers can accompany commercial balloon pilots on specific launches, morning or evening and occasionally during the day.

During each “Balloon Glow,” one designated balloon may offer tethered rides for a nominal fee.

The 2011 Crown of Maine Balloon Fest will take place Aug. 2528 in Presque Isle. For more information, log onto www.crownofmaineballoonfest.o rg.

Page 7

Perspective April 9

Cyan Magenta Yellow Black Bangor Daily News, Saturday | April 9, 2011, 7

PERSPECTIVE 2011 HOME IMPROVEMENT

Room Lighting Sets the Mood and Adds Drama or Warmth

W

alk through the rooms in your home and ask yourself a few questions.

What mood or style is reflected throughout? Do certain rooms feel warm and inviting while others seem dark and depressing? Why do some rooms feel so peaceful and calming, while others are cold, dreary and uncomfortable?

Have you ever considered the role that lighting plays in the feelings you get when you enter a room? Lighting not only provides general illumination, it is also used to transform, emphasize, or enhance a space.

When illuminating a room, lighting can be used to create a mood, add drama or warmth, or highlight a special feature such as a painting, a plant arrangement or textured walls.

Lighting can be whatever you want it to be: It all depends on you and your style, your budget, and the type of lighting you choose.

PLANNING A LIGHTING SCHEME

According to the American Lighting Association (ALA), lighting should complement your lifestyle.

When planning your lighting, the ALA suggests you look at the activities that occur in each room of your home, the atmosphere you want to create, and the decorative elements you wish to emphasize, taking note of those areas that serve multiple purposes and those that will require more than one type of lighting.

TYPES OF LIGHTING

There are three basic types of lighting — general, task and accent — and a good lighting plan combines all three to light an area according to function and style.

• General lighting is a basic form of lighting that replaces sunlight and provides an area with overall illumination.

It radiates a comfortable level of brightness, enabling one to see and walk about safely.

• Task lighting helps you perform specific tasks such as reading, sewing, cooking, doing homework or playing a game. It should be free of distracting glare and shadows and bright enough to prevent eyestrain.

• Accent lighting adds drama to a room by creating visual interest. As part of a decorating scheme, it is used to spotlight paintings, houseplants, sculptures and other prized possessions. It can also highlight the texture of a wall, drapery or outdoor landscaping.

Accent lighting requires at least three times as

room while giving you the general lighting you need for dining and entertaining. They can also be used in bedrooms, foyers, or over a living room grouping or a grand piano.

• Pendants provide both task and general lighting. Equipped with shades or globes to avoid glare, they are suspended from the ceiling over dinette tables, game tables, kitchen counters, or other work areas.

• Ceiling fixtures offer general lighting and are used in foyers, hallways, bedrooms, kitchens, baths, laundry rooms, etc. mounted fixtures are great • Wall-m for general, task and accent lighting needs. Many are designed to match and supplement dining room chandeliers, or to provide hallway, bedroom or living room lighting.

• Bath/vanity lighting strips supply task lighting while supplementing the general lighting provided by ceiling fixtures. These fixtures provide excellent lighting for applying makeup, shaving and grooming.

• Portable lamps can deliver general, task and accent lighting while giving you the flexibility to move the light whenever you want. Table lamps, floor lamps, and torchieres are available in a variety of styles to complement any décor. Small specialty lamps such as clip-on lights, uplight cans, adjustable task lights, mini-reflector spotlights, and desk Natural lighting available through a skylight enhances the modern and piano lamps fill a variety of task decor in a stylish kitchen. and accent light needs.

• Track lighting provides general, much light on the focal point as the general light- task and accent lighting all at once in one flexible ing around it. lighting system. You can move, swivel, rotate and aim the individual fixtures in any direction along TYPES OF LIGHTING FIXTURES the track, giving you the versatility to change your lighting scheme when the need arises.

Once you’ve selected what you want to light, • Recessed lighting provides general, task and you’ll have to decide how you’re going to light it. accent lighting, inconspicuously. Installed in the ceilThere are many different styles, sizes and shapes of ing with only the trim showing, recessed fixtures can lighting fixtures to choose from. Here are some be used anywhere in the home - including outdoors, examples to consider: under the projecting lower edge of a roof. They are • Hall/foyer fixtures create a congenial atmos- ideal for low-ceiling areas, and with a special adapter, phere while providing the general lighting you they can also be used in cathedral ceilings.

• Undercabinet/undershelf fixtures offer both need to greet guests and safely move about your home. Use ceiling, chain-hung, or close-to-ceiling task and accent lighting. Under kitchen cabinets, they light a countertop. In a display cabinet, they fixtures in hallways, stairways, and entranceways.

• Chandeliers add sparkle and style to a dining show off prized possessions. They can be used in a

workshop or anywhere you need lighting right at hand.

LIGHT-SOURCE CATEGORIES

After you’ve chosen your lighting fixtures, the next step is to select an appropriate light source (bulb or lamp) for each one. The performance of any light fixture depends on the light source used in it. Different sources produce different effects, and different lighting fixtures use different light sources and wattages. That’s why it’s extremely important to know what bulbs/lamps to use in the fixtures you have and the maximum wattages allowed.

Here is a breakdown of the types of bulbs (lamps) available for lighting fixtures, courtesy of the ALA. 1. Incandescent. Produces a yellowish-white light that imparts a warm rich glow in all directions. Bulbs/lamps in this category consist of general service: general, globe, and decorative lamps which are inexpensive and are available in clear or frosted in a variety of wattages and shapes; reflectorized versions (bulbs that have a reflective coating inside that directs light forward, producing better beam control than general service bulbs); and flood types which spread light, and spot types which concentrate light.

2. Tungsten-Halogen. Produces a bright white light and provides more light per watt than regular incandescent bulbs. Maintains maximum efficiency throughout the life of the bulb. Available in both line- and low-voltage versions.

3. Fluorescent. Available in a wide spectrum of colors. Warm white tones best duplicate the color of incandescents. More energy efficient than incandescents. Use one fifth to one third as much electricity as incandescents with comparable lumen rating (the amount of light that a bulb produces) and lasts up to 20 times longer. Compact types are used in smaller, trimmer fixtures such as recessed downlights, wall sconces, close-to-ceiling-fixtures, and track lights. Screw-in types can be used in place of incandescents in standard lamp sockets.

4. High-Intensity Discharge (HID). Has a longer life and provides more light (lumens) per watt than any other light source. Available in mercury vapor, metal halide, and high- and low-pressure sodium types. Used residentially for outdoor security and landscape lighting.

If you need help with a home-lighting plan, you may want to consult with a lighting designer. You can search for one in your area by visiting the International Association of Lighting Designers at www.iald.org.

Page 8 Persepctive April 9

Cyan Magenta Yellow Black

8, Saturday | April 9, 2011, Bangor Daily News

Page 9

Perspective April 9

Cyan Magenta Yellow Black Bangor Daily News, Saturday | April 9, 2011, 9

PERSPECTIVE 2011 UTILITIES

Smart Grid Will Let Hydro Customers Control Electric Bills ■ BY BRIAN SWARTZ SPECIAL SECTIONS EDITOR

B

y shifting their clothes drying, dishwashing, and other appliancerelated household activities to different times of the day, many Bangor Hydro Electric Co. customers will be able to take control of their monthly electric bills.

In January 2010, Bangor Hydro launched an $8 million Smart Grid Initiative that will, by late 2013, let customers manage their electrical usage to save money.

According to Communications Officer Susan Faloon, Bangor Hydro replaced 97 percent of its older, manually read meters with “smart” or “automated” meters in 2005. Hard-wired to the electrical system, a smart meter maintains two-way communications with Bangor Hydro’s operations center: • A meter records hourly power usage and transmits the collected data to Bangor Hydro.

This data is used to calculate monthly power bills.

• During a power outage, Bangor Hydro personnel can signal specific meters. Those that do not respond lack electrical power, so Bangor Hydro can quickly narrow the outage area based on the locations of “silent” meters.

With its Smart Grid Initiative, Bangor Hydro is replacing its

Image Courtesy of Bangor Hydro-Electric Co.

Bangor-Hydro Electric Co. has launched an $8 million Smart Grid Initiative to introduce hourly supply pricing for its 117,000 customers. This graph illustrates the difference between the current flat supply price (purple line) and the projected hourly supply prices (green bars). The light blue line represents a typical residential customer’s daily per-hour power usage. With Smart Grid, BHE customers will be able to shift some of their electrical usage to hours when electricity costs less.

remaining outmoded meters and is adding a meter data management system that offers the company’s 117,000 customers the ability to monitor their electrical usage online at www.bangorhydro.com.

“With the automated meters, we’ve had the ability to collect hourly data” since 2005, said Bangor Hydro Project Manager Kendra Overlock. “The missing component was the software that would let us present that detailed usage information to customers.”

For customers interested in

managing their electrical usage, Smart Grid will provide data securely online. “We will be rolling out the new Web tools in midsummer this year,” Overlock said.

“There will be two Web experiences,” she said. “There will be detailed tools designed for commercial and industrial customers. The tools geared toward our residential customers will provide a quick and easy way to see when a house is using power, making it easy for customers to determine which appliances are

running at those times.”

One great benefit of the online tools will be more timely feedback for customers who make changes, such as adding a new appliance or switching off more lights. Instead of waiting for their monthly statement to arrive, they will be able log in and view the impact to their electricity usage the next day.

Over the next few years, Bangor Hydro also plans to test new rate options that will help customers manage electricity usage and cost.

A monthly Bangor Hydro electrical bill includes two parts: the cost for third-party electricity supply and the cost for delivering that electricity to the customer.

According to Faloon, residential customers pay a flat hourly rate for electricity supply; this rate does not vary between peak usage, when demand is high, and non-peak usage, when demand drops significantly.

When Smart Grid becomes fully operational, it will support electricity supply prices that vary hourly for customers who opt in, costing more per hour during peak hours and less per hour during off-peak hours, especially at night. By shifting power usage to off-peak hours, a consumer could save 3-10 percent on an

average $90 monthly electric bill, Overlock indicated.

“You have the opportunity to save more money, the more you are able to shift your electrical use to off-peak hours,” she said.

“Some utilities are reporting an average of 16 percent savings,” Faloon added.

The advent of “smart” appliances — including microwaves, thermostats, and washers and dryers — will make Smart Grid’s pricing structure more attractive.

“Customers who can program their appliances can set them to run when the electric rates are lower,” Overlock noted.

Bangor Hydro will test Smart Grid before introducing it to all its customers. In June, Bangor See POWER, Page 10

Page 10

Perspective April 9

Cyan Magenta Yellow Black

10, Saturday | April 9, 2011, Bangor Daily News PERSPECTIVE 2011 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

facility, which is being converted to the civilian use of three buildings.

Farther afield is a project on Vinalhaven island in Continued from Page 5 Knox County that involves rehabing an existing apartment building into low-income housing. three dormitories. Phase 2 promises to proceed as Community Housing of Maine funding is making smoothly as the first. the project possible. And on Millinocket Lake, the Also on schedule and under city and state budgets is the new $24 million pre-K-8 Brewer school that will see completion in July. Ward said this is the largest bid project his company ever tackled, and he “went with his gut” in signing on, even though two years ago the economy was in free-fall. The result is a 175,000-square-foot facility with a full-size basketball court, 500-person performing arts center, and an outdoor track facility.

Rounding out Nickerson & O’Day’s construction schedule are three unique Hancock County projects. The first is the restoration of Photo by Terry Farren the Mountain Ash House in Brooklin, now Foundation excavation continues as structural steel is used by WoodenBoat School as a dormitory erected for Phase 2 of the Army Regional Training and dining facility. Ward believes E.B. White Institute in Bangor. Nickerson & O’Day is constructing wrote “Charlotte’s Web” in the old wooden this building. building.

Nearing completion is construction of the $9 company is building the new welcome center for million Acadia Gateway Center on Route 3 in Tren- the New England Outdoor Center. ton. It includes facilities for the Island Explorer bus “We try to select Maine-only subcontractors on system, which visitors can utilize without driving each project,” Ward said. “Many of our projects are onto Mount Desert Island. At the $7 million green certified, and much of our management Schoodic Education and Research Center in Winter team are LEED-Accredited Professionals. Build Harbor, work is under way at the former Navy now. Don’t wait.”

Contractor

NEWS Photos by Brian Swartz

West Street in Bar Harbor assumes a dramatically altered appearance this spring (above) as construction proceeds on a $12-million, 102-room hotel owned by Ocean Properties Inc. The hotel should open next spring.

At the Atlantic Oceanside Hotel & Conference Center on Eden Street, four 15-room buildings have been torn down to make room for a new 60-room building (below). This project should be completed this summer.

Hotel Construction Alters the Bar Harbor Landscape ■ BY BRIAN SWARTZ, SPECIAL SECTIONS EDITOR

B

ar Harbor’s undergoing a significant change this year as a new hotel rises on West Street and renovations revamp a venerable Eden Street hotel.

In early November 2010, a contractor started demolishing several buildings along West Street to make room for a $12-million hotel being developed by Ocean Properties Ltd. When completed in spring 2012, the 102-room hotel will stretch from Main Street to Rodick Street and will visually alter intown West Street.

Among the buildings torn down was the Quarterdeck Restaurant, which had stood at Main and West streets for many years. Acadia National Park visitors often ate lobster dinners on the Quarterdeck’s upper deck overlooking Bar Harbor and Bar Island. The wood-frame building housing the Bar Harbor Whale Museum was also demolished.

Because Lennox Street intersects West Street between Main and Rodick, the new hotel will rise on two foundations, with the building meeting above Lennox Street. Bar Harbor-based L.E. Norwood started the foundations earlier this winter; slated to continue until the 2011 tourist season

begins, hotel construction will resume in the fall.

The as-yet-unnamed hotel will front on West Street; guest rooms will provide good views across Frenchman Bay toward Sorrento and Schoodic Mountain. With a prime location one block from the Bar Harbor Municipal Pier, the hotel will dominate the West Street skyline.

At the Atlantic Oceanside Hotel & Conference Center at 119 Eden St., Bar Harbor, four buildings with a cumulative 60 rooms will be replaced by a single 60-room building, according to Witham Family Limited Partnership. The buildings were torn down to make room for the new building, which should be completed by early July 2011.

Atlantic Oceanside Hotel has 153 guest rooms and lies on Frenchman Bay.

Power Continued from Page 9 Hydro will begin an initial Smart Grid rate trial “to test the technology and gauge customer experiences,” Overlock said.

Involving 100 volunteer customers that represent Bangor Hydro’s customer base — residential, small business, commercial, and industrial — this rate trial will last six to nine months.

A second 18-month rate trial involving 1,500 customers will begin in early 2012. This trial will report how customers shift their electrical consumption and how much money they save by doing so.

In time, Bangor Hydro will post the next day’s hourly supply pricing online after 5 p.m. A customer could calculate the potential savings achieved by shifting particular household activities — dishwashing, clothes drying, etc. — to offpeak hours. Then the customer would decide if the savings merited the effort.

“Smart Grid puts the customer in control of their electricity usage,” Overlock said. “Our goal is to provide the information [that] consumers need

to decide if and when they want to shift their use of electricity.”

She stressed that Smart Grid will not let Bangor Hydro change a customer’s electrical use. “Bangor Hydro has no control of a customers electricity usage,” she stated. “We can’t tell what individual circuits and appliances are doing inside a home.”

Smart Grid participation will be voluntary, as far as Bangor Hydro customers deciding whether or not they want to monitor their electrical usage and adjust it to save money. “Some customers because of their lifestyles may choose not to participate,” Overlock said.

The Smart Grid Initiative will also see Bangor Hydro acquire mobile communications substations to maintain two-way communications with smart meters during planned power outages.

Faloon explained that when Bangor Hydro shuts down a substation for scheduled maintenance, the utility sets up a mobile substation at the site “to allow us to continue to gather and transmit hourly usage data.”

“There are many pieces to the Smart Grid puzzle,” said Overlock. “We will continue to look at new ways to improve our service to our customers and ultimately make it a smarter electric grid.”

Page 11

Perspective April 9

Cyan Magenta Yellow Black Bangor Daily News, Saturday | April 9, 2011, 11

12, Saturday | April 9, 2011, Bangor Daily News

Bangor Daily News, Saturday | April 9, 2011, 13

Page 14

Perspective April 9

Cyan Magenta Yellow Black

14, Saturday | April 9, 2011, Bangor Daily News

Page 15

Perspective April 9

Cyan Magenta Yellow Black Bangor Daily News, Saturday | April 9, 2011, 15

PERSPECTIVE 2011 TRANSPORTATION

SmartWay Partnership Involves Motor Carriers and EPA ■ BY BRIAN SWARTZ, SPECIAL SECTIONS EDITOR

approximately $3,000 in fuel and eliminate 19 metric tons of carbon dioxide.

M

aine freight carriers are improving fuel efficiencies, reducing costs and diesel consumption, and shrinking their carbon footprints through participation in the SmartWay Transport Partnership.

Developed by the Environmental Protection Agency, SmartWay “focuses on fuel efficiency,” said Brian Parke, president of the Maine Motor Transport Association.

“Fuel prices are a major cost-of-doing-business for many Maine businesses … for motor carriers and their customers,” Parke said.

When diesel prices spiked above $4 a gallon in 2008, truckers struggled “to make ends meet,” and shippers “saw their costs go up fast,” he said.

The EPA invites motor carriers to join the SmartWay Transport Partnership, which has developed 12 fuel-reduction categories that each recommend specific steps to reduce fuel consumption.

IMPROVED AERODYNAMICS

The EPA estimates that a 15percent improvement in truck aerodynamics can reduce annual fuel consumption by 2,000 gallons and carbon-dioxide emissions by 20 metric tons per truck.

Freight carriers can improve truck aerodynamics by installing air dams, cab extenders, integrated roof fairings, and side fairings.

Trailers can be equipped with rear air dams and side skirts.

AUTOMATIC TIRE-INFLATION SYSTEMS

According to the EPA, installing an automatic tire-inflation system on a long-haul truck’s drive and trailer tires “could save 100 gallons of fuel annually” and eliminate producing a metric ton of carbon dioxide. The EPA estimates that an automatic tire-inflation system could “pay for itself in just over two years.”

DRIVER TRAINING

By training its drivers to learn such fuel-reducing techniques as anticipatory driving, engine-speed optimization, optimal gearing, progressive shifting, and speed control, a freight carrier “can improve fuel economy by 5 percent or higher,” the EPA claims. Per truck, this would mean $1,200 in yearly fuel savings and 8 fewer metric tons of

IMPROVED FREIGHT LOGISTICS

For Maine-based freight carriers hauling outbound elsewhere NEWS Photos by Brian Swartz in the Northeast and into the As the late autumn sun sets, a Volvo tractor moves a fuel tanker west on Route 2 in Palmyra. Some Maine mid-Atlantic states, finding freight carriers are participating in the SmartWay Transport Partnership, a joint venture with the inbound loads presents a major Enivronmental Protection Agency designed to help trucking companies improve fuel efficiencies challenge due to Maine’s sparse by reducing diesel consumption.

1.3-million population. carbon dioxide produced.

Too often, inbound Maine truckers are traveling “dead head,” hauling empty trailers that represent lost revenue and fuel costs not offHYBRID POWERTRAIN TECHNOLOGY set by income.

A hybrid vehicle, defined by the EPA as a truck equipped with “two By developing such “improved logistics” as efficient delivery propulsion power sources,” works well in schedules, efficient routes, and load matching, a freight carrier could “stop-and-go freight applications.” Such a reduce a truck’s “empty miles,” the EPA indicates. vehicle could reduce annual fuel costs by A 15-percent reduction in such mileage could reduce annual fuel approximately $2,000 and annual carbon- costs by $3,000 and carbon-dioxide emissions by 24 metric tons per dioxide emissions by 12 metric tons. truck.

IDLE REDUCTION

A truck that idles for an hour burns almost a gallon of fuel, according to the EPA. To eliminate engine idling, many freight carriers equip trucks with auxiliary power units (which burn about one-third of a gallon of fuel per hour), direct-fired heaters and coolant systems, and programmable systems that shut down engines.

The EPA recommends that truck plazas install “truck stop electrification systems” that would let a trucker “draw electrical power and in some cases heating, cooling, Sitting behind the wheel of a Western Star cab, a truck driver hauls logs south on Route 201 in telecommunications, and Internet hookups West Forks. Maine loggers often purchase Western Star trucks to move forest products to mills in from a ground source.”

Reducing idling time can annually save Maine and Canada.

INTERMODAL SHIPPING

Many Maine companies shipping freight intermodally, which involves transportation by rail and truck. At several intermodal facilities in Maine, truck trailers are transferred to and from railroad flat cars, which often can carry two fully loaded truck trailers.

According to the EPA, when utilized for long distances, intermodal shipping “can cut fuel and carbon dioxide by 65 percent, compared to truck-only moves.”

LOW-VISCOSITY LUBRICANTS

According to the EPA, “low-viscosity synthetic or semi-synthetic lubricants flow more easily and withstand the extreme pressure of engine, transmission, and drive train systems better than conventional mineral oil blends [do].”

See SMARTWAY, Page 19

Page 16 Perspective April 9

Cyan Magenta Yellow Black

16, Saturday | April 9, 2011, Bangor Daily News

Page 17

Perspective April 9

Cyan Magenta Yellow Black

PERSPECTIVE 2011 TRAVEL

BIA Connects Travelers With Destinations Around the World ■ BY BRIAN SWARTZ, SPECIAL SECTIONS EDITOR

B

angor International Airport boasts about its connections with major American hub airports, from which folks departing the Queen City can reach Parts Unknown around the world.

Not having traveled outside Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. of A., I cannot attest to BIA’s international connections, but I can prove that unlike a particularly silly Maine phrase, “I can get theyah from he-ah”by way of BIA’s domestic connections.

Every year my son and I meet somewhere Way Down South in Dixie to visit Civil War battlefields; he has inherited the hobby from me. Since Chris lives below the Mason-Dixon Line, we spend a few glorious days together exploring sites in Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, or West Virginia.

In 2009, we met in Richmond to tour Piedmont and Tidewater battlefields in Virginia. Figuring that Washington, D.C. lies a good 12-to-14-hour drive from Bangor and calculating that drive time against the projected flight time, I booked a roundtrip flight from Bangor to Richmond via Philadelphia.

The regional jet departed BIA on time and landed amidst cold rain drops and an east-bound cold front in Philly. Expecting a weather delay there, I rejoiced when the commuter jet lifted off on schedule for Richmond.

There the plane descended through the clouds near Richmond International Airport (FAA-identified as “RIC”), and I saw Virginia’s lovely autumn hues spreading among the hardwoods bordering the James River.

Off the plane, out the gate, and to the rent-a-car counter: At 12 noon, slightly more than five hours after my plane left Bangor, I rolled from the RIC parking garage and headed to the day’s first battlefield stop.

Five-plus hours from Bangor to Richmond Battlefield National Park: That’s a heckuva deal on any Mainer’s travel schedule.

In 2010, Chris and I targeted Charleston, S.C., with a side trip to Savannah. Driving made no sense: Charleston’s two days out from Bangor for a solo driver. Air-fare comparisons with Manchester and Portland revealed insignificant savings when I added gas, tolls, and parking-space rentals. So I flew BIA to Philly to Charleston International Airport.

That cold November day, the regional jet departed Bangor by 7 a.m. and landed in sunshine and the low 40s at Philadelphia. The connecting flight landed to brilliant Palmetto State sunshine and the mid-70s shortly after 12 noon. By the time Chris arrived on his flight, I possessed the rental-car keys; we loaded our bags and headed to Sullivans Island to tour Fort Moultrie.

Six hours after leaving Maine, I was footloose and fancy-free in Charleston. And flying home via Philadelphia took only five hours.

Bangor to San Antone, Bangor to Nashville, Bangor to Atlanta: Flying from Bangor International Airport, which is less than 10 miles from my home, took me to these destinations and others over the years.

And if Susan and I had wanted to spend a few NEWS Photo by Brian Swartz days in Florida when winter returned late last Outbound for a major airport hub, a regional jet takes off from Bangor International Airport. The airport month, we could have left Bangor and been in the advertises its hub connections that let passengers reach far-away destinations.

Sunshine State within a few hours.

I love the BIA convenience. The advantages to using Bangor include: • Minimal drive time to the airport; • For me, no airport parking fees. I call a cab, friend, or relative; • No long TSA lines: Those who’ve experienced a Logan International security jam-up and subsequent pat-down will know what I mean. The TSA personnel at BIA are among the nicer airport guardians anywhere in the U.S. of A.; • Coming home. When my flight approaches Bangor in daylight, I enjoy watching for familiar landmarks as the jet flies over the Penobscot Valley.

NEWS File Photo by Kevin Bennett At night, the twinkling street lights in Brewer and Passengers board a regional jet at Bangor International Airport.

Bangor resemble so many candles on a “welcome home” cake. al jet ease its tires onto the BIA tarmac; we’ve come no matter if we live near the airport or a few hours There’s something special about feeling a region- home to Maine, no matter how far we’ve flown and away.

Bangor International Airport

“Bangor International Airport is critical to our business.”

One strategy Bill Buckley has used to make Coffee News such a success is bringing franchise owners here for hands-on learning. Bangor International Airport’s nonstops and connecting flights make it possible for business people to meet face-to-face. For Bill, that’s as critical as… something good to read with his morning coffee.

Check out our convenient new online booking syste m at FlyBangor.com

Bill Buckley, Entrepreneur

Convenience ... nonstop, daily.

Page 18

Perspective April 9

Cyan Magenta Yellow Black

18, Saturday | April 9, 2011, Bangor Daily News PERSPECTIVE 2011 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

CES Sitework at Eastport Is Key to Port’s Expansion, Success ■ BY DAVID M. FITZPATRICK

land port authorized to export livestock, that activity has caught the attention of livestock brokers from the East Coast to Montana.

To that, the port needs to expand.

SPECIAL SECTIONS WRITER

C

ES Inc. of Machias and Brewer has been involved with an exciting project in Eastport, managing extensive site work in preparation for the installation of a bidirectional conveyor system.

That conveyor will dramatically increase the capability of a port that is geared to become a major player in the Northeast.

CES Engineer Travis Noyes has been actively involved the project. “It will give them a lot more flexibility in terms of what types of products they can export and import,” Noyes said. “It makes their destination a more viable option for importing as well as exporting.”

CES consulted with Port staff on several occasions to cover conceptual what-ifs and to help with grant applications and permitting. When funding was in place, the port hired CES to move forward with the design. This was all before Phase One — the site work — even began. Phase Two is the conveyor.

SITE WORK & FUNDING

The new expansion will accomplish many things, the most important of which will be the new 900-foot bidirectional conveyor system. The conveyor will make bulk Photo Courtesy of Jim Lowe commodities easier and An aerial view of the port following the major portion of the site work. This photo, taken in January, is prior to the faster to handle, and allow construction of the outdoor pad and warehouse, and before the installation of the 90-foot bi-directional conveyor. for efficient loading and unloading of ships, great“By building this new convey- of warehouses with forklifts. And growing cargo ports in New Eng- ly increasing the port’s throughor and opening up storage space it should be operational this fall. land. It already has two major put capability. But before the perks: it’s the easternmost port in conveyor goes, up, a lot of earthat the facility, they’ll be able to the U.S., and it’s also the deepest. work on the 12- to 13-acre site is handle wood chips, wood pellets, HISTORY OF THE PORT The Eastport Port Authority The port began working with being done. aggregate — it opens them up to Under CES’ plan, workers have a whole series of different prod- was established in 1977, and at Woodland Pulp in Baileyville, ucts that could be shipped,” the time was expected to handle formerly Domtar, 30 years ago, dropped a ledge hill in the midmaybe 50,000 tons of cargo and that has historically been the dle of the site by 26 feet to create Noyes said.

Product will move on the con- annually. But business was good, port’s largest customer, primarily a level table, removing 100,000 veyor to load on ships — or vice and the port expanded in 1998. shipping wood pulp to Asia. But cubic yards of rock in the versa. It will be significantly With this new expansion, it’s the threat of Domtar’s demise process. The rock has been used faster than moving it in and out becoming one of the fastest- was a wake-up call, as about 60 to lay down a base for the forthport jobs relied on that shipped coming container yard and warepulp — not counting truckers, house, which will be capable of tugboat operators, and pilots holding 40,000 metric tons of who rely on the port. The impact wood chips. The rock has also on the local economy is over- been used to fill the Sea Street whelming, and in order to pro- shore, which the Maine Departtect that economy, the Port needs ment of Environmental Protecto diversify. tion had declared in need of Much of that growth is cen- emergency repairs. The shore tered on the Woodland mill, had lost 26 feet since 1978, and which is by far the major client. the rock will help protect strucThe port averages about 380,000 tures such as Motel East and tons of cargo per year, but at the Quoddy Bay Lobster. end of 2010, it hit a record Part of the port’s expansion 415,000 tons. Part of that growth funding is $2 million from the has been the needed diversifica- Transportation Investment Gention, which began last July when erating Economic Recovery, or 500 bred heifers were arrived at TIGER grant, along with $4.5 the Port and shipped to Turkey. million in state transportationIn October, 600 cows arrived bond money. from New England, Ohio, and The $6.5 million will cover the NEWS File Photo by John Clarke Russ Pennsylvania for shipping, with a site development, the conveyor, As a ship-board crane lifts a cargo container filled with Holstein cows onto the SS Damgracht at Estes Head in potential for 8,000 more from the 5-acre outdoor storage area, Eastport, dock workers help guide it off the Eastport Port Authority dock in late October 2010. that client. As the only New Eng- and the warehouse.

www.ces-maine.com

ENGINEERING • SURVEYING • PLANNING • SCIENCES

A VITAL PARTNER

CES’ involvement with the project began two years ago when Port of Eastport Director Chris Gardner approached CES Senior Vice President and Machias Branch Manager Josh Bragg about the potential project. When the future of the pulp mill, the port’s primary customer, became uncertain, Gardner knew the port needed diversification to efficiently handle a wide range of products. CES was a natural fit, having strong roots in Washington County. It’s had an office there since 1996, and many of its employees were born and raised in the region.

SEE RELATED ARTICLE ON PAGE 28

SENSIBLE SOLUTIONS

D di t d to Dedicated t our clients. li t P Proven b by our results. lt

“As Chris loves to remind me, it was literally an idea sketched out on the back of a napkin in a local eatery,” Bragg said.

Gardner said CES has been “absolutely fabulous” to work with. “What we like about CES is that one of the things that drew them to us was they do have a strong presence in Washington County,” Gardner said. “It was important for us to use a firm [like that].”

Gardner said CES isn’t just a firm doing engineering jobs, but instead has a sense of ownership in the project. “When a firm gets motivated to that degree, that’s when they’re able to take it to the next level,” he said. “They’re not just you’re engineers — they’re your partners.”

The Port of Eastport is the deepest port in the U.S. — 65 feet at the pier at low tide, with 100foot-deep approaches. Unlike many ports, it has never needed dredging. That makes it unique and valuable.

“We see Eastport as one of the best assets for the entire state of Maine,” Gardner said. “What a God-given gift to have the deepest natural seaport in the United States — in Washington County, Maine, in a region of the state that has long struggled to find its niche in the economy and to grow.”

Gardner saluted the longshoremen, pilots, truckers, and other workers who make the port work and have made it a success for 30 years. “The strength of the port of Eastport at the end of the day is really on the men and women who work here,” he said.

“I think our continuity and the people that are here are really what has made the port of Eastport grow.”

The same can be said about CES, Gardner added. “The strength of CES is certainly in its people,” he said. “We can’t speak highly enough of them.”

“We have been very proud to be part of this project from its inception,” Bragg said. “As a Washington County native, a local business owner, and current chair of the Sunrise County Economic Council, it has been truly inspiring for me to see what’s happening at the port… This expansion bucks the national trend and reminds us of how adversity can actually drive progress.”

NEWS File Photo by Sharon Kiley Mack

FIVELOCATIONS LOCATIONSIN INMAINE MAINE FIVE

207.989.4824 207.989.4824

Laden with pulp manufactured in Baileyville, a tractor-trailer sits parked on the Eastport Port Authority pier at Estes Head in Eastport in February 2010. The pulp was loaded aboard the SS Star Japan for shipment to an overseas port.

Page 19

Perspective April 9

Cyan Magenta Yellow Black Bangor Daily News, Saturday | April 9, 2011, 19

PERSPECTIVE 2011 INSURANCE

SmartWay Continued from Page 15 By using low-viscosity lubricants in a long-haul truck, a freight carrier can boost fuel efficiency by 3 percent; this equals an annual reduction of 500 gallons of fuel and 5 metric tons of carbon dioxide.

REDUCING HIGHWAY SPEED

Cutting a long-haul truck’s top speed from 70 to 65 miles per hour could mean approximately

$1,500 saved annually in fuel costs and almost 10 metric tons of carbon dioxide not released to the atmosphere, the EPA estimates.

According to Parke, many MMTA members already mandate specific top speeds; some freight carriers equip their truck engines with speed governors to limit top-end speeds. Canada requires that all long-haul trucks be equipped with “speed limiters” (governors), he indicated.

With GPS technology, some Maine-based freight carriers are tracking truck movements; on-

board technology provides information on each truck’s exact route, location, and, in many instances, average hourly speed.

SINGLE WIDE-BASE TIRES

The traditional two-tire hub on trucks and tires could eventually disappear as freight carriers discover the savings inherent in equipping new trucks with single wide-base tires.

According to Parke, such tires “reduce weight … and rolling resistance. This is a bigger tire, designed to take the same load as

View Ellsworth From a Different Perspective Aboard the Downeast Scenic Railroad ■ BY BRIAN SWARTZ SPECIAL SECTIONS EDITOR

E

xperience Ellsworth from a different viewpoint this summer by riding on the Downeast Scenic Railroad.

Based at Washington Junction in Hancock, the DSRR operates excursion trains at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays, from a boarding platform located behind Cadillac Mountain Sports at 32 High St., Ellsworth.

Parking is available there and at the Maine Community Foundation on East Main Street.

In operation since late July 2010, the Downeast Scenic Railroad operates restored locomotives and passenger cars similar to equipment used by the Maine Central Railroad, which once operated the Calais Branch Line from Brewer to Calais via Washington Junction.

The state acquired the abandoned route in the mid-1980s; since passenger service from Ellsworth ended in the late 1950s, not many people remember “riding the rails” through Hancock County.

Now Mainers and leaf-peepers can view Ellsworth and Card Brook from an engineer’s van-

tage point as the DSRR transports passengers on a 10-mile, 1½-hour round trip that extends from Lakes Lane in Ellsworth Falls to Washington Junction.

School, alongside High Street, and across the extensive wetland drained by Card Brook. Watch for beaver lodges and osprey nests, of which at least three were evident last summer. A

two side-by-side tires.” The EPA reports that single wide-base tires reduce aerodynamic drag, too.

“Specifying single wide-base tires on a new combination truck could save $1,000 immediately and reap annual fuel savings of 2 percent or more while cutting carbon dioxide [emissions] by more than 4 metric tons,” the EPA reports.

EPA estimates that a manufacturer “can trim hundreds of pounds from a truck tractor” by using aluminum in axle hubs, the cab frame, clutch housings, and the wheels.

That weight reduction climbs to “thousands of pounds” when a trailer manufacturer uses aluminum in floor joists, hubs and wheels, roof posts, and upright posts.

According to the EPA, reducWEIGHT REDUCTION ing a truck’s weight by 3,000 pounds can mean burning 500 For years, freight carriers have fewer gallons of diesel each year, sought ways to reduce a tractor- thus reducing carbon dioxide trailer’s combined weight as a emissions by 5 metric tons. way to add more payload and hence earn additional revenue. ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS Today, freight carriers realize that Many Maine companies weight reduction equals reduced fuel consumption and a smaller belong to the SmartWay Transport Partnership, according to carbon footprint per truck.

In a prior interview, Parke Parke; he indicated that a “commentioned that manufacturers plete list of Maine participants,” are “using more aluminum” in including many companies that new tractors and trailers. The belong to the MMTA, can be

found online at www.epa.gov/smartway/transp o r t / w h e r e - y o u work/region1.htm.

“Our members are good stewards of the environment,” Parke said.

“Environmentally it’s making a difference,” said MMTA Vice President Tim Doyle. “Using less fuel means you’re producing less carbon dioxide. You can have it both ways: saving money and helping the environment.”

He noted that some Maine freight carriers (and MMTA members) participating in SmartWay had achieved significant savings in fuel costs “during the lean times of ’08 and ’09.”

“Truckers are businessmen, and they are looking for ways to cut their costs,” Parke said.

“SmartWay provides them an opportunity with their customers to show they are committed to going ‘green’ in this age of carbon-footprint reduction.”

Retirees Use Cash Value of Whole Life Insurance as Income ■ BY ARA

M NEWS Photos by Brian Swartz

While riding on the Downeast Scenic Railroad through Ellsworth, passengers view High Street from a different angle (above). Passengers board the train at a platform behind Cadillac Mountain Sports (right).

Each train includes a locomotive, an open-air platform car equipped with awnings and picnic tables, a passenger car, and a caboose.

Each train travels behind Oak Street residences and State Street businesses, past Ellsworth High

conductor reports having seen deer and “the occasional moose” in the Card Brook wetland, which actually extends across Route 1.

For more information, call (866) 449-7245 or log onto www.downeastscenicrail.org.

any retirees will use the cash value of their whole life insurance policies as a supplemental income stream to see them through tough times.

The cash value of whole life is guaranteed to grow every year, unlike stocks and mutual funds, which can have good and bad years.

Mutual life insurance companies also have an excellent track record of paying annual dividends that beef up the policy’s cash value.

“My whole life insurance policy has always been the best value for the buck,” says Jack Leon, 79, a lawyer in San Antonio, who purchased coverage from Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. (MassMutual). “I’ve always

known the cash value of my whole life policy would grow, in good times and in bad. And I’ve always known the cash is there if I need it in an emergency.”

Dave Janca, 48, a software company owner from Orchard Park, N.Y. agrees. “It’s nice to know you can get to the cash as you grow older,” he says. “Your investments may fluctuate with the markets. But the value of whole life is predictable; it grows, and it’s there if you need it. To me, it’s not just insurance, it’s another planning vehicle.”

Most people buy life insurance for the policy’s death benefit. But financial professionals say whole life insurance can also supplement retirement planning because it’s flexible and helps policyholders address their everchanging needs and circumstances.

“A policy’s cash value can be used for planned long-term needs, like helping a grandchild with college tuition or for medical and elder care. Used responsibly, it also can be used to help ride out the unexpected,” says Tara Reynolds, MassMutual vice president.

“We’ve seen people tap their whole life policies in emergencies, like home mortgage payments, getting a loan when banks say no, or quickly generating cash flow in a small business situation,” Reynolds said.

Guarantees are one of the many great aspects of whole life insurance. The death benefit is guaranteed; the premiums are guaranteed, and growth of the cash value is guaranteed.

It’s a piece of your financial plan that you don’t have to worry about.

Page 20 Perspective April 9

Cyan Magenta Yellow Black

20, Saturday | April 9, 2011, Bangor Daily News PERSPECTIVE 2011 INSURANCE

Talk to Agent Before Writing a Formula for Personal Disaster ■ BY BRIAN SWARTZ SPECIAL SECTIONS EDITOR

P

sst! Want to save $40 today and lose $100,000 tomorrow?

Then go online and buy discounted insurance for that car/house/snowmobile and hope the insurance covers everything that could possibly go wrong.

The alternative? Talk with an independent insurance agent to find the best insurance coverage at the best price.

“Such coverage actually serves to insulate and adequately protect you,” said Keith Howard, the Varney Agency’s chief administrative officer.

“It’s protection that you can make an informed decision about for yourself after receiving some invaluable insight and professional advice,” he said. Headquartered in Bangor, the Varney Agency represents various insurance companies and has offices from Houlton to Bedford, N.H. FORMULA FOR PERSONAL DISASTER

“How comfortable should you be about sitting at home and being allowed to write your own Formula for Personal Disaster?” Howard asked.

According to Howard, a Formula for Photo by Terry Farren Personal Disaster occurs when an indiThe insurance professionals at the Varney Agency in Bangor are (front, from left) Lori Varney, Coordinator; Melanie Hare, Personal Lines Producer; Autumn King, Commercial vidual — a car owner, a homeowner, or Lines Agent; Keith Howard, Chief Administrative Officer; Shawna McKay, Producer; Liza Douglass, Personal Lines New Business; and Jenn Kelley, Accounting Assistant; (center, a business owner — “cobbles together from left): Hope Gabric, Personal Lines Producer; Ashley Hodgdon, Commercial Lines Agent; Dean Andrews, Systems Manager; Maya McCarthy, Data Entry; Mary Flood, Personal an insurance policy or plan with an eye Lines Agent; Wendy Oxton, Customer Service; and Michelle Shaw, Commercial Lines Agent; (rear, from left): Jeannie Stanhope, Personal Lines Manager; Tim Varney, President; toward cutting costs without underMichael Varney, Producer; Greg Palman, Commercial Lines Manager; Aaron Largay, Producer; and Heather Kinney, Personal Lines Agent. standing the possible long-term ramifications.

“Everything that we have acquired you’re sitting there, how do you evaluate driven that we’re without an in-depth “What they choose and don’t choose what you need for coverage? How do understanding of what the discounts are and has meaning for us personally, it’s or fail to identify in risk will come back “How comfortable should you know that the money you’re saving impacting,” Howard said. “It can be dis- within those four walls: a home, a busito haunt them with a vengeance,” he ness,” Howard said. won’t cost you much more in the long astrous.” you be about sitting at He offered an example.

“Someone said.

“Lives can change in an hour. You run? home and being allowed Howard believes that this can particu“Unless you’re a licensed insurance with a $300,000 home and some toys — work 30 years of your life, and you get a to write your own larly happen when an individual shops agent, experienced, on your game and a boat, a motorcycle — goes online, and phone call that it’s all gone up in ashes online for insurance. He discussed disaware of what’s out there working both they down-sell themselves on the level of or in an accident. If you’re not adequatePersonal Formula count-insurance TV ads that indicate for and against you, you’re not going to insurance,” Howard said. “Then some- ly covered by insurance, where do you for Disaster?” how much money consumers can save know what type or level of coverage you thing happens, a fire or an accident, per- start to make it up?” he asked. by buying coverage with particular Howard discussed four scenarios need. You don’t know what needs to be haps, and suddenly the homeowner Keith Howard finds out that he’s not fully covered. In involving inadequate insurance coverinsurers. covered — or how,” he said. some situations, he might not be cov- age: Although these ads usually target DISCOUNT-DRIVEN TO DISASTER ered at all. vehicle insurance, discount coverage • “Renters often assume their land“Who has to make up the difference? lord’s insurance covers everything” lost could extend to homes and other perSpeaking to people who purchase See VARNEY, Page 21 “Right now our society is so discount- He does,” he said. sonal property, too. such online coverage, Howard asked, “As

Page 21

Perspective April 9

Cyan Magenta Yellow Black Bangor Daily News, Saturday | April 9, 2011, 21

PERSPECTIVE 2011 COMMUNICATIONS

NEWS Photos by Brian Swartz

Hope Gabric, a personal lines producer with the Varney Agency, speaks with a customer about his insurance needs.

Varney Continued from Page 20 to a burglary or fire, he said. “The fact is that everything that person or family owns is at risk. No landlord policy will provide any coverage for their personal belongings.

“Years of hard work and investment, the very clothes they need to wear are gone with no means to put their lives back in place without a simple renter’s policy,” Howard said.

“Yet you can get renter’s insurance for about $150 a year, depending on what amount you wish to insure for; that’s slightly more than $10 a month,” he said.

The fact is many people renting are under the false belief that their landlord’s policy will cover them if there were ever a fire, burglary or other loss.

That’s just not so.”

• Each owning a car, two parents work full time to support their children. One car is damaged in an accident, and the parents’ auto insurance lacks a rental

replacement rider.

“Who’s going to drive whom to work?

Pick up the kids? Create a problem like this for what amounts to pennies saved?

Why?” Howard asked.

“Rental replacement [coverage] is inexpensive, and you still have two vehicles to get back and forth to work with,” he said.

• An uninsured snowmobiler strikes and injures you on a trail. “You wind up crippled, and the other person has no insurance and very few assets to attach,” Howard said.

“Certain [insurance] carriers will offer uninsured motorist coverage on a snowmobile, and others do not. Insuring with this coverage, you’d be better able to avoid provide some level of protection for yourself, against medical bills, lost wages, etc.,” he commented.

• While giving a passenger a ride on your motorcycle, you have an accident that injures the passenger. Some insurers offer “motorcycle guest-passenger liability” that covers this scenario, Howard indicated.

And some people simply avoid buy-

Heather Kinney, a personal lines agent at the Varney Agency, speaks with a customer on the telephone. She works at the insurance agency’s headquarters in Bangor.

ing insurance coverage altogether. While acknowledging that “economics can have a hand in this” decision, Howard questions why anyone would not insure their lifelong possession and property.

“I consider insurance to be of great importance,” he said. “If one doesn’t mind working their entire life and having circumstances sweep it all away, I guess that not having insurance coverage wouldn’t matter.”

TALK WITH AN INDEPENDENT INSURANCE AGENT

An individual can learn about appropriate insurance coverage by meeting with “a local independent agent, not a representative limited to just one company, but someone representing dozens of good, solid insurance companies,” Howard said.

“Not all insurers provide the same levels of coverage, whether it’s on your house or car,” he said.

“Along with many major national companies, many we also represent are mutual or regional carriers, and their

underwriters understand our region and its concerns,” Howard said.

“We actually have a rating specialists that will market insurance to every company we represent that a person qualifies with to ensure the best possible outcome in price and in coverage for them,” he said.

“Along with many major national companies, many we also represent are mutual or regional carriers, and their underwriter understand our region.”

Keith Howard

“We’ll meet with you and personally review your insurance needs,” Howard said. “One of the most important things we do is actually ‘listen.’ That’s how we start to find out what you should have for coverage.

“We’ll ask relevant questions to identify your liabilities, assess your risks, and try to provide [insurance] protection against losses in those areas,” Howard said.

“You need to know what’s out there for [insurance] options,” he said. “You need to identify your liability. You need to know what you stand to lose.”

“We present that information to you so you can make an informed decision,” he said.

“We can explain why coverage may or may not cost more than a discounted online policy might; we can show you the additional protection you’re getting, and often with all our markets and our aggressive shopping for you, we’re even better priced to start with,” he commented.

Howard recommended that individuals “take the time and talk with an independent agent,” either in person or on the phone.

For more information, contact the Varney Agency at (toll free) 877-9478637 or log onto www.varneyagency.com.

Pamela, Customer Service

Does your phone company pick up within 15 seconds when you call?

We answer in under 8.

We dare you to try. 1-888-342-7678 In a technical world of text messages, voice mails, email, and web forms, we are proud to answer our calls with a live person. Our technology may be complex, but working with Oxford Networks is not. In fact, our business customers find working with us refreshingly simple with 100% of those surveyed stating they would recommend us to others.

Phone • Internet • Data | Bangor • Lewiston • Norway | A Local Company, A World of OPTIONS ™

Page 22

Perspective April 9

Cyan Magenta Yellow Black

22, Saturday | April 9, 2011, Bangor Daily News PERSPECTIVE 2011 CONSTRUCTION & PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

Tradition of Excellence Is Now Known as Rudman Winchell ■ BY JEFF M. SOLARI

R

udman &Winchell is now Rudman Winchell. The venerable Bangor law firm now known as Rudman Winchell was founded in 1917 by Abraham M. Rudman. In 1954, Mr. Rudman became a Maine Superior Court Judge. His sons, Gerald and Paul, carried on the well-established firm’s practice, enjoying long and highly successful careers in their own right.

excellence. In 1991, Paul Rudman followed in his father’s footsteps to become a justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. In 2003, attorney Robert E. Murray Jr., left Rudman & Winchell to become commissioner of the Maine Department of Professional and Financial Regulation. He later was appointed a Judge of the Maine District Court and now serves as a justice of the Maine Superior Court.

In 2010, Gov. John E. Baldacci selected another of our partners to become a judge when he appointed Bruce Mallonee a judge of the Maine District Court. Most recently Gov. Paul LePage selected attorney Paul Sighinolfi to be the executive director and chair of the Maine Workers’ Compensation Board for the State of Maine.

A LOCAL FIRM WITH INTERNATIONAL SCOPE

Today Rudman Winchell provides a full range of legal services to individuals and families, estates, businesses, nonprofit organizations, municipalities, government agencies, schools and universities, hospitals, and insurers. The firm has achieved MartindaleHubbell’s highest rating for ethical standards and legal ability.

From our offices in Bangor, Rudman Winchell advises a widespread national and In 1965, Abraham Rudman, founder of Rudman Winchell international client base, offering compreCounselors at Law, was appointed to the Maine Supreme hensive, top caliber, cost-effective legal counJudicial Court. sel.

As it has since 1917, the firm rises continuIn 1965, Abraham Rudman was appointed a Jus- ously to the challenges of changing times — and tice on the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. That the changing needs of the people and institutions same year attorney Gene Carter joined Gerald and that we serve.

Paul Rudman at the firm, and the practice’s name OUR HISTORIC HOME changed to Rudman, Rudman & Carter.

In 1977, the firm became Rudman, Winchell, Since 1971, Rudman Winchell has been housed Carter & Buckley when it merged with another established Bangor law firm, Winchell & Buckley. in the historic Graham Building at 84 Harlow St. in In 1980, Gene Carter left the practice to become a Bangor. Construction of this architecturally signifjustice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, and icant Arts and Crafts era edifice was already in progress at the time of the Great Bangor Fire of the firm became known as Rudman & Winchell.

This remained the firm’s name for more than 1911. Fortunately, the building survived the blaze three decades until the title was streamlined to and was completed later that year.

In keeping with the firm’s ardent devotion to Rudman Winchell in 2011. local tradition and community history, Rudman A LONG TRADITION OF EXCELLENCE Winchell is refurbishing the Graham Building inside and out in celebration of the building’s cenRudman Winchell has an impressive tradition of tennial anniversary in 2011.

Photo Courtesy of Consigli Construction Co.

The Consigli Construction Co. of Portland is extensively renovating the Margaret Chase Smith Federal Building on Harlow Street in Bangor. The project will update the building’s safety and security systems, improve handicap accessbility, boost energy efficiencies, and update the electrical, mechanical, and plumbing systems.

Federal Construction Project Boosts Bangor-Area Economy

T

he Margaret Chase Smith Federal Building, a City of Bangor landmark since 1967, is currently undergoing the first extensive renovation in its history, which will update it to current energy-efficiency, safety, and security standards.

Located in the heart of downtown Bangor at 202 Harlow St., the three-story, 180,000-squarefoot building renovation will be phased over three years, while maintaining occupancy and critical government operations.

The facility houses multiple federal agencies, including the U.S. Courts, U.S. Marshals Service, and the Social Security Administration.

Renovations include full replacement of mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems; installation of a geothermal heating and cooling system; advanced heating, cooling and lighting controls; new windows, electrical systems, security systems, and other updates.

A new pavilion, designed to respect the character of the mid-century modernist structure, will act as a beacon at night. Plaza improvements, including new public art, will create an attractive public space.

The first tenants to take occupancy in their

newly renovated first floor space will be the U.S. Marshals Service in the fall of 2011. Completion of the project, which is being funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, is scheduled for late 2013.

IMPACTING BANGOR’S ECONOMY

In a statement to the Bangor Daily News, Sen. Susan Collins said, “The GSA’s decision to award economic stimulus funding to repair and renovate the Margaret Chase Smith Federal Building will help create and save jobs in the Bangor area. This means more money in the pockets of working people and local stores and businesses.”

Consigli Construction Co. Inc. of Portland will employ approximately 150 people on site at the highest point of construction. Over the course of three years, the project will involve more than 500 local trades and construction personnel, including project managers, engineers, superintendents, architects, administrative and accounting personal, and other building design and construction specialists.

In addition, more than 60 local subcontractors See CONSIGLI, Page 24

Good Help Is Hard to Find.

Except when it comes to hiring an attorney.

ABOVE&BEYOND

Rudman Winchell attorneys are among the most respected in Maine. Our depth of experience

Innovative Approaches. Impressive Results.

uniquely positions us to understand the complex legal challenges you face. Rudman Winchell’s 32 attorneys deliver pragmatic, cost-effective solutions and positive results.

The University of Maine

Penobscot Judicial Center

Margaret Chase Smith Federal Building

The Jackson Laboratory

CONSIGLI CONSTRUCTION CO., INC.

Experience. Expertise. Excellence.

84 Harlow Street P.O. Box 1401 Bangor, Maine 04402-1401 (207) 947.4501 Fax: (207) 941.9715

www.rudmanwinchell.com

Construction Managers and General Contractors www.consigli.com 773-3000

ACADEMIC | HEALTHCARE | CORPORATE | FEDERAL | INSTITUTIONAL

Page 23

perspective #

Cyan Magenta Yellow Black

PERSPECTIVE 2011 TRANSPORTATION

MMTA Provides Vital Services for Motor Carriers, Drivers ■ BY BRIAN SWARTZ, SPECIAL SECTIONS EDITOR

W

hile celebrating its 65th anniversary in 2011, the Maine Motor Transport Association provides important services for freight carriers and professional truck drivers alike. Some services target the MMTA’s 1,200 members, said President and CEO Brian Parke, and other services benefit non-members, too.

COMPLIANCE WITH THE FEDERAL SAFETY INITIATIVE

MM

TA. CO M

on visi lin t u e s at

According to MMTA Vice President Tim Doyle, the MMTA assists members in meeting requirements established by Compliance, Safety, Accountability, a national safety initiative that was fully implemented by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration on Dec. 13, 2010.

The MMTA Web site, www.mmta.com, indicates that CSA “is designed to be a more effective and efficient means of regulating and enforcing safe [commercial] driving” by using “new tools to identify and correct unsafe carrier/driver behaviors that lead to crashes.”

“New members often ask for us to help them get in compliance,” Doyle said. “It’s easier and less costly to stay in compliance in the first place than it is to regain compliance after being found in violation.”

Under FMCSA regulations, federal law mandates “a new entrant process” for a fledgling motor carrier, Doyle said. He explained that within 18 months after “opening its doors,” such a business will undergo a federal audit to ensure safety and compliance fitness.

This audit “takes a few days. It’s very comprehensive,” Doyle noted.

“The law applies to any company that uses a truck with a GVWR of 10,001 pounds or more,” Doyle said. “Quite a few of our smaller members own only one vehicle, while many of our larger members have fleets with hundreds of trucks.

“Our members call us, and we help them get in

NEWS Photo by Brian Swartz

Although based in Augusta, the 1,200-member Maine Motor Transport Association provides training and other services for companies and professional truck drivers throughout the state. Some services benefit MMTA members.

compliance,” he indicated. Doyle and MMTA Training Coordinator Randy DeVault often work with MMTA members, review their files and assist them in complying with the federal regulations.

MMTA Services sells “supplies that a motor carrier would need to run a compliant business,” Doyle said.

TRAINING FOR FREIGHT CARRIERS AND TRUCK DRIVERS

“It’s not easy to be a professional truck driver,” Parke said. To help truckers and their employers improve their knowledge and comply with federal and state laws, the MMTA offers specific classes and seminars throughout the year, including: • Hours-of-service training. The FMCSA has established strict “hours of service” for truck drivers; these regulations encompass such areas as

maximum driving hours, record-keeping (logbooks), and rest breaks. The regulations can be dynamic and confusing, DeVault indicated, and the MMTA’s hours-of-service training “teaches drivers and their employers how to be compliant,” he said “and keeps them informed of interpretations and possible changes.”

The MMTA will offer hours-of-service training on May 27 in Portland, Aug. 26 in Augusta, and Oct. 28 in Brewer.

• Hazardous materials training. Federal regulations define hazardous materials (known as “Hazmat”) and how to handle and transport them. On June 10 and Sept. 9, the MMTA will offer Hazmat training at its Augusta offices. Training will cover such topics as documentation, loading, placarding, and the importance of performing security and background checks on potential Hazmat drivers.

• Training on FMCSA regulations. DeVault will

discuss specific topics related to FMCSA regulations during seminars to be held at the MMTA offices on June 24 and Oct. 7. The training particularly benefits company owners, dispatchers, drivers, and safety directors.

• Mandatory training for entry-level CDL drivers. According to the MMTA Web site, the U.S. Department of Transportation requires specific training “for entry-level operators of commercial motor vehicles that are required to hold or obtain” a CDL. DeVault will conduct driver-training classes at the MMTA offices on April 29 and Oct. 21.

The classes meet federal training guidelines.

• Defensive driving. The MMTA will provide training to fleets of all sizes, whether members or not, to teach defensive driving to “drivers of commercial vehicles,” DeVault said. Upon successful completion of the course, “the [Maine] Bureau of Highway Safety sanctions us to put three points on the [driver’s] CDL,” he pointed out.

Estimating that he does at least 75 training sessions a year, DeVault stressed that he can “do onsite training” for “companies that don’t have a meeting room of their own.” The Maine Motor Transport Association has a Mobile Safety Unit, a 1998 Volvo 770 and trailer painted in matching color schemes. Inside the MSU trailer is a 14-seat, HVAC-equipped classroom.

“It’s a great way for doing training requested by a particular [MMTA] member,” DeVault said. “We come right to your door, any time of year.”

Registration for all MMTA trainings and events can be done through the association’s Web site at www.mmta.com or by calling the MMTA office at (207) 623-4128.

PROGRAMS THAT BENEFIT ALL FREIGHT CARRIERS

According to Doyle, safety “is paramount for our members.” The MMTA Safety Management Coun cil brings together safety managers from various motor carriers to “discuss ideas and what the best safety practices are,” he said. Quarterly meetings See MMTA, Page 27

MAINE MOTOR TRANSPORT ASSOCIATION “A Spokesperson for the Trucking Industry”

The MMTA was founded to promote high professional standards within our industry, to spread awareness of the importance of trucking and to encourage safe driving through education.

TRUCKS BRING

Nourishment

WHAT WE OFFER: • Low Cost Membership Dues. (Starting as low as $150.00) • MMTA Communications will keep you up to date on the latest industry developments.

• MMTA’s news magazine “Maine Motor Transport News” is published six times a year. Each issue is packed full of information, features, and advertisements. This is an excellent low cost way for advertisers to reach the people who typically make the buying decisions for their companies.

• MMTA is the spokesperson for the trucking industry at the state house. Our staff work closely with all state and federal agencies to ensure that during the rule making process, your views are known.

• ME TruckPAC, another way for your voice to be heard through political action.

• MMTA Services also knows that your time is valuable, we can help by: Preparing your IRP and IFTA Reports, Vehicle Registrations and Over Limit Permits.

• We provide a Turnpike Toll Discount Program • Workers’ Compensation & Health insurance • Mobile Safety Unit is available for: On site Defensive Driver Training, Drivers Education Classes - “How to Share the Road with Trucks”, Driver Awareness Programs and Employee Training • We provide awards to Driver of the Month & Driver of the Year • Truck Driving Championships - Held yearly at Dysart’s in Hermon, Maine • Drug and Alcohol Testing Program • Safety Management Council • Seminars: State and Federal Regulations Compliance, Hazardous Material Training, Log Books, Drug and Alcohol, Fleet Safety Programs

From breadtotomilkmilk to Maine potatoes, bringforthe From bread to broccoli, trucks bring thetrucks ingredients your family’s for nextyour meal. family’s Every day,next trucksmeal. stock your grocery ingredients Every day,store trucks shelves with life’s essentials.

In fact, 80 percent stock your grocery store shelves withmore life’sthan essentials.

In offact, American solely on the truckingdepend industrysolely for more thancommunities 80 percent depend of American communities the delivery of their goods and commodities. on the trucking industry for the delivery of their goods and commodities.

To learn how the trucking industry serves your community, visit www.trucksbringit.com.

TRUCKS BRING

Life's Essentials

MOBILE SAFETY

UNIT

YOU SPENT YOUR CHILDHOOD PLAYING WITH TRUCKS. Picturedabove:TheMMTA’sMobileSafetyUnit,atractor-traileroutfittedwithaheatedmobileclassroomcomplete withadrivingsimulator. Thisunitcanbesetupatanylocationandisusedtoeducatedrivers,bothprofessionalCDL holdersandyoungdrivers’educationstudents,andthegeneralpublicontheimportanceof safedriving.

IF WE ALL WORK TOGETHER, THERE ARE SAFE ROADS AHEAD.

WHAT HAPPENED ?

THE ROAD IS CALLING. TAKE THE WHEEL

Page 24

Perspective April 9

Cyan Magenta Yellow Black

24, Saturday | April 9, 2011, Bangor Daily News PERSPECTIVE 2011 COMMUNICATIONS & PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

Whitten’s 2-Way Urges Public to Do Required Narrowbanding ■ BY DAVID M. FITZPATRICK SPECIAL SECTIONS WRITER

cations for the radios.

WHO NEEDS 2-WAYS?

M

Photo Courtesy of Consigli Construction

Workers drill the geothermal heating and cooling systems for the Margaret Chase Smith Federal Building, which is being renovated by Consigli Construction of Portland. Located on Harlow Street, the federal building is receiving upgrades to its electrical, mechanical, and plumbing systems; the building’s energy efficiency will improve significantly when the project is completed. According to Matthew Tonello, who is the area manager for Consigli Construction’s Maine office, the goal is to attain an LEED Gold level rating from the U.S. Green Building Council.

Consigli Continued from Page 22 and suppliers will be contracted over the duration of the project.

During these difficult economic times, this influx of work will create a positive ripple effect on other businesses that provide goods and services in the area.

SUSTAINABLE DESIGN AND ENERGYEFFICIENT BUILDING IMPROVEMENTS

“One of the major components of this project is maximizing the high performance, energy-efficient aspects of the building’s functions through sustainable green building design with a goal of attaining a U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Gold level rating,” said Matthew Tonello, area manager for Consigli Construction’s Maine office.

Newly modernized GSA-owned facilities are required to meet the lowest energy-consumption

level attainable without a resulting increase in lifecycle cost, with a goal of reducing the present value energy cost budget to at least 20 percent below prerenovations level.

The majority of the renovations to the Margaret Chase Smith Federal Building will not be visible to passersby; however, upgrades to improve energy efficiency will reduce water consumption and energy use, passing on a sizable future cost savings to taxpayers and extending the life of this landmark public building.

In addition to sustainable design and building improvements the building will be made compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act through renovations to public restrooms and the front plaza slope and proper placement of elevator controls and door hardware.

“GSA is committed to sustaining both the environment and the local economy. This project will reduce energy consumption by 44 percent, employ more than 500 local tradesmen, and provide increased opportunities for local businesses,” said GSA Regional Administrator Robert Zarnetske.

For your ordinary tasks, expect extraordinary service.

ServiceMaster Contract Services is the premier choice for green cleaning and facility maintenance solutions in Eastern Maine.

ServiceMaster Contract Services Phone: (207) 848-0745 Toll Free: (800) 278-0745 Email: hclark@svmcontract.com www.svmcontract.com

Municipalities and Schools

Commericial Office Space

Manufacturing and Industrial

Healthcare Facilities

oving with the times has been someThe private sector is a concern because many thing Whitten’s 2-Way Service has businesses with FCC licenses for such radios don’t done every year since 1957. Providing seem to be aware of the requirement. In Maine, two-way-radio service and reliable construction, trucking, security, and logging comcommunication to public-safety entities, munici- panies are all typical businesses, whether they have palities, and private businesses, Whitten’s has two radios or 200. So what kinds of businesses can always had to keep ahead with technology to benefit from two-way radios? ensure its customers have what they need.

“Anybody that needs instant communication,” Along with that comes the important FCC nar- said Kingsbury. rowbanding mandate, a conversion from 25 kHz to Cell phones aren’t instant, nor are they as reli12.5 kHz, which kicks in Jan. 1, 2013. It’s called nar- able. Businesses working too far from the I-95 corrowbanding, and everyone has to do it.

Needless to say, the past few years has seen Whitten’s steadily ramping up as the flow of customers seeking this vital changeover has increased. Late last summer, owner John Kingsbury was busily contacting his customers about the necessary switch; now, they’re coming in droves.

“A lot of people are doing it,” he said.

“We’re getting the word out, and they’re listening.”

There’s a lot riding on the switch. Failure to change over by Jan. 1, 2013 means the FCC will slap you with hefty fines. And in Anyone who needs instant communication can benefit from order to communicate with other entities two-way radios, which are faster, more reliable, and more effi— such as a police or fire department — cient than cell phones. Motorola’s MotoTRBO radios are loweveryone has to do it. cost, high-performance models ideal to get small businesses In Maine, you might also have to deal into the radios they need — or to upgrade them in preparation with the Canadian government. Just north for the FCC’s Jan. 1, 2013 narrowbanding deadline. of Bangor, there’s an imaginary boundary curving across Maine, representing where U.S. and Canadian radio communications overlap. ridor won’t likely be satisfied with lost signal, If your two-ways operate above “Line A,” you also dropped calls, and poor quality — which can be need Canadian approval. With a wait time for costly.

If you just need a couple of radios for a small Canada running six to 18 months, you’d better get business, you might be able to get away with basic going now.

Whitten’s is busy converting customers’ licenses, models that each cost less than a new cell phone. If reprogramming radios, and replacing old radios you need to cover the state, there are high-end that don’t meet the narrowband requirements. For solutions as well. Whitten’s has adapted its experithe latter, most of Whitten’s smaller customers are ence into a comprehensive Q&A to determine what considering the Motorola MotoTRBO, a digital- the customer really needs; often, he only knows radio system that meets the current FCC require- that he needs radios. Whitten’s investigates and determines how the customer will use the radios, ment and the upcoming 6.25 kHz switch.

MotoTRBO is priced similar to old-style analog what range he needs, and whether he needs access devices, making it affordable for customers in the to other channels (such as police bands).

After 53 years, you might think the Whitten’s switch. Utilizing MotoTRBO in digital mode also allows for new benefits for these customers, such as folks have seen it all, but they learn and adapt every Automatic Vehicle Identification, text messaging, day.

Kingsbury said his ongoing education in the email to radio, and alarm monitoring. Kingsbury said the list of features constantly grows; when a field is much the same as the technology he pronew need arises, software developers create appli- vides. “It changes every day,” he said.

Page 25

Perspective April 9

Cyan Magenta Yellow Black Bangor Daily News, Saturday | April 9, 2011, 25

Page 26 Perspective April 9

Cyan Magenta Yellow Black

26, Saturday | April 9, 2011, Bangor Daily News PERSPECTIVE 2011 TRANSPORTATION

New Truck Engines Lower Emissions, Boost Fuel Efficiency ■ BY BRIAN SWARTZ, SPECIAL SECTIONS EDITOR

Bangor headquarters is a Goodyear retreader.

Of the various 2010 truck engines available on ruckers driving new 2010 and ’11 trucks new trucks, Freightliner of Maine equips its trucks purchased at Freightliner of Maine are with Cummins or Detroit Diesel engines. No matreporting “good news,” according to FOM ter which new engine powers a Freightliner of General Manager Tim Caldwell.

Maine truck, the results are proving favorable.

Already the exclusive Freightliner dealer for “Everybody came out with new engines last year Maine, Freightliner of Maine also has the Western to meet [tightened] emissions standards,” Caldwell Star franchise for southern Maine. The company said. “The big news is, the ’10 emissions engines sells and services Freightliners at 422 Perry Road in that we have are a new technology, and they’re Bangor and 10 Terminal St. in Westbrook; the working well.”

Westbrook facility also sells and services Western The 2010 engines supplanted 2007 engines, Stars. which “were a major step” toward reducing engine Freightliner of Maine operates parts depart- emissions, but delivered “mixed results with that ments in Bangor and Westbrook and at 7 Rodman technology,” he indicated. A 2007 engine recircuRoad, Auburn and 2 Piper Way, Waterville and sells lates exhaust gases, and a filter removes particuand services Barko loaders and Thermo King lates. refrigeration units.

“Exhaust gas recirculation is hard on motors,” Under licensing agreements with Freightliner of Caldwell said. “More water accumulates in the Maine, Ouellette’s Garage in St. David and The Big engine, there’s more dirt. The engine has to work Rig Shop in Oxford carry Freightliner parts and harder; that affects gas mileage.” perform Freightliner warranty service.

When a 2007 engine-equipped truck operates at Freightliner of Maine distributes Dunlop, highway speeds, heat supplied to the particulate filGoodyear, Kelly, and Ohtsu tires; the company’s ter will “burn off ” the collected particulates, Caldwell said. However, if “a truck would never stay hot enough to do a passive regen[eration],” the on-board computer will “idle the truck at high engine rpms,” he noted. “The driver can’t use the truck for 30 minutes or so, and it’s sitting there, burning fuel.”

So, while reducing emissions, the 2007 truck engines also reduced fuel mileage, thus increasing costs for truckers and motor carriers. Today, by employing a different technology, engine manufacturers are producing 2010 engines that cut emissions and fuel NEWS Photo by Brian Swartz improve A truck driver steers a Freightliner and a log-laden trailer west along Pritham Avenue mileage.

On a 2010 engine, in Greenville. Headquartered in Bangor, Freightliner of Maine sells and services Freightliner trucks at its facilities in Bangor and Westbrook; the company also sells urea is injected “into and services Western Star trucks in Westbrook. the exhaust stream

T

Photo Courtesy of Freightliner

Among the new truck models available from Freightliner is the Coronado SD, designed for heavy hauling.

“The Coronado SD has been a real success for us,” said Tim Caldwell, Freightliner of Maine general manager.

after combustion,” and the engine recirculates less exhaust gas, Caldwell said. The technology lowers engine emissions, keeps the engine cleaner, improves fuel mileage, and provides better throttle response, he indicated.

Although urea consumption approximates 2 percent of fuel consumption, a 2010 truck engine delivers 5-7 percent higher fuel mileage when compared to a 2007 engine. “The oil-change interval has been extended to 40,000 miles,” which reduces maintenance costs, Caldwell said.

He noted that the B-50 life on new truck engines “has been increased to 1.2 million miles from 750,000 miles”; this means that new trucks should achieve longer operational life “without a major engine failure,” Caldwell said.

Among new Freightliners equipped with the 2010 engines are the Coronado SD, Coronado Classic, and 114SD. “The Coronado SD has been a real success for us,” Caldwell noted. “It’s a heavy haul application, very robust, durable. That business seems to be coming back a little bit, especially among people working in the woods.”

As new truck prices have risen, Freightliner of Maine has seen sales increase for gliders, defined as “power” or “roller.” “A [power] glider is a [new] truck cab and framerails that’s missing two of the three major components, basically a cab with an

engine and no transmission or rear end,” Caldwell said. Federal law allows a truck owner to purchase a power glider and install in it the transmission and rear end taken from an existing truck. Parts are matched by serial numbers.

A “roller” glider typically is a new truck cab and chassis, but no engine. Federal law lets a truck owner install in a “roller” glider the engine taken from an existing truck.

A truck owner can also replace an existing engine with a similar engine; according to Caldwell, engine manufacturers still produce replacement engines dating to the early 1990s. Engines are swapped by serial numbers.

“The cost of a glider can’t exceed 80 percent of the cost of a new truck without the buyer paying the federal excise tax,” Caldwell pointed out.

“They’ve always been available; there are a lot of them being sold. It’s getting to be a big business.”

He explained that economic factors, including new truck prices, are causing some motor carriers to “hang onto trucks and not trade them as often.

They’re maintaining them more, which has boosted business in our service departments.

“They’re also finding it’s cost-effective to buy a glider,” Caldwell said. “They get a new truck with some older components, and it costs less than buying a new truck.”

Transportation Secretary Bans Texting by Professional Drivers ■ BY BRIAN SWARTZ, SPECIAL SECTIONS EDITOR

W

ith a decision made on Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2010, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood ensured that less driver texting will occur on the nation’s roads, thus improving highway safety in Maine and elsewhere.

“It’s an important step in the direction of increased safety on our highways,” said Maine Motor Transport Association Vice President Tim Doyle, referring to LaHood’s interim texting ban for commercial drivers. “Reducing distractions while driving will result in fewer crashes.”

LaHood announced the ban after several serious accidents involved texting as a contributing factor to the crash, including a May 2009 accident involving a texting conductor and a trolley on the MBTA’s Green Line in Boston. Applied to drivers of buses and large trucks, the ban was “an important safety step,” LaHood said.

“We want the drivers of big rigs and buses and those who share the roads with them to be safe,” he said.

According to a USDOT press release, drivers violating the ban can face “up to $2,750” in “civil or criminal penalties.”

While many drivers of all vehicle classes text behind the wheel, commercial drivers have a special responsibility to operate safely. Research conducted by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration indicates that for every 6 seconds spent texting, a driver looks away from the road an average 4.6 seconds, the time needed to drive “the length of a football field, including the end zones,” according to a USDOT press release.

Texting drivers “are more than 20 times more likely to get involved in an accident than [are] non-distracted drivers,” the FMCSA reports.

The adjective “distracted” is key, Doyle emphasized. Texting actually falls under the category of “distracted driving,” he said, but “there are many types of distractions,” such as eating, reading, or talking on a cell phone while driving.

Doyle noted that “studies indicate that cell phone use while driving, especially texting, significantly increases the risk of crashing.”

In a presentation made to the 124th Maine Legislature’s Transportation Committee, Lt. Chris Grotton of the Maine State Police defined the “types of distraction” as: • Cognitive, caused when a driver does not focus on driving; • Physical, caused when a driver’s hands are not on the steering wheel; • Visual, caused when a driver’s eyes are not on

the road.

Grotton indicated that according to all drivers participating in a 2007 survey conducted by Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co., when driving: • 81 percent used wireless hand-held devices; • 31 percent daydreamed; • 19 percent did their hair, texted, or sent instant messages; • 8 percent drove with pets sitting in their laps; • 14 percent dealt with issues pertaining to children riding in the passenger seats.

Grotton’s presentation included various research studies from Australia, North Carolina, and Utah confirming that a driver’s cell phone usage, whether talking or texting, significantly raises the risk of accident. Six states and the District of Columbia ban the use of hand-held cell phones while driving, and seven states and D.C. ban text-messaging while driving.

In Maine, 124th Legislature Transportation Committee members turned down several proposals to ban driver use of hand-held cell phones.

However, in January 2009, State Sen. William Diamond (D-Cumberland) introduced a law (L.D. 6) “making distracted driving a traffic infraction,” Doyle said.

Subsequently passed by the Legislature and signed by Gov. John Baldacci, the law defines “operation of a motor vehicle while distracted” and stipulates that a driver committing any traffic violation while distracted has also committed an additional “distracted driving” infraction.

Drivers could pay up to $500 in fines per violation.

Backers hope the bill will reduce the approximately 12,000 annual crashes caused in Maine by distracted drivers. “I think it will mitigate accidents. It’s a step, but a big step,” Grotton told the Associated Press in September 2009.

The Maine law applies to all drivers, commercial or not, according to Doyle, and while the law “is not specific as to what the distraction is …

Maine’s approach is pretty unique in that it takes in all distractions.”

Prior to LaHood’s interim texting ban, “many responsible [commercial] carriers in Maine and many of our [MMTA] members have been proactive about this,” Doyle said. “Many carriers already ban texting or using cell phones while operating commercial vehicles.”

On Wednesday, March 31, 2010, LaHood announced a proposed rule to replace the interim texting ban for commercial drivers.

Intended to cement the interim ban in federal law, the proposed rule underwent regulatory review.

Page 27

Perspective April 9

Cyan Magenta Yellow Black Bangor Daily News, Saturday | April 9, 2011, 27

PERSPECTIVE 2011 DISTRIBUTORS

MMTA Continued from Page 23 are held at the MMTA offices.

Located just off the Maine Turnpike’s Exit 109A, the MMTA offices overlook the primary highway used by truck drivers hauling freight to and from Maine. All commercial trucks using the Maine Turnpike pay tolls, and to benefit Maine-based freight carriers utilizing the turnpike, the MMTA Toll Discount Program offers “a better discount structure” than might otherwise be available.”

“We receive a volume group discount because there are so many of our members (700-plus) participating in this program,” Parke said. “This is especially good for the small carriers.”

According to Doyle, the MMTA Drug & Alcohol Testing Program helps motor carriers — whether MMTA members or not — “remain in compliance with federal-and-state drug-and-alcohol testing regulations.” These require that all CDL drivers “have a pre-employment test” when applying for work with a motor carrier, Doyle said; CDL drivers are also “subject to random testing,” he indicated.

Federal law requires all motor carriers to “participate in random drug-and-alcohol testing,” such as the MMTA’s program, Doyle said. Approximately 1,200 motor carriers employing some 7,000 drivers participate in the MMTA Drug & Alcohol Testing Program. “We’re finding a lot more companies joining [the program] recently,” Doyle said.

“There’s a misconception out there that if the company owner is the driver or if a company’s trucks, or that the company only operates within the 100-air mile requirement” observed by Maine law, “you don’t need to be in a drug-and-alcohol program,” Doyle said. “That’s not accurate: Any company operating a quali-

fying vehicle must belong to a drug-and-alcohol program. We encourage anyone with questions about drug-and-alcohol programs to call us.”

The self-insured MMTA Worker’s Compensation Trust offers participating companies lower rates and the possibility of surplus refunds for Worker’s Comp insurance via the trust’s expansive membership. The trust also provides support services for companies dealing with Worker’s Comp claims.

When the Maine Legislature meets at the State Capitol, MMTA officials often represent trucking and truckers during committee meetings and public hearings. “Advocacy is a big part of what we do,” Doyle explained.

“At the State House, we’re regarded as the spokesperson for the trucking industry,” Parke said. “We’re often asked for our input on transportation issues.

We work well with both parties; we have good, strong relationships with leaders on both sides of the aisle.”

The MMTA works closely with the Maine Congressional delegation “about issues related to trucking in Maine and sometimes New England, like the 100,000-pound weight limit pilot project in Maine and Vermont,” Parke said. During the past few years, MMTA officials and Maine transportation representatives have traveled to Washington, D.C. to meet with congressional representatives and explain the impact the weight limit issue has on Maine.

MAINE PROFESSIONAL TRUCK DRIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

On Saturday, May 14, 2011, the MMTA and the Maine Professional Driver’s Association will sponsor the Maine Professional Truck Driving Championships at Dysart’s Trailer Shop in Hermon, just off Interstate-95’s Exit 180.

Last year, professional drivers participated in the event, which

has nine divisions: • 3-axle; • 4-axle; • 5-axle; • 5-axle flatbed; • 5-axle sleeper;

• Step van; • Straight truck; • Tank truck; • Twin trailers.

Competing drivers take a written test and then navigate the

appropriate truck-combination through a course set up in the Dysart’s Trailer Shop parking lot.

Nine winners, one from each division, “will go to the national championships in Orlando,” Fla.

from Aug. 9-14, said DeVault.

“We encourage all professional truck drivers to participate in the May championships,” he said, noting that 74 drivers competed in the 2010 state championships.

NEWS Photos by Brian Swartz

If funding becomes available for rail restoration to a new trans-load facility in Perry, trains could once again roll along the tracks at Ayers Junction in Pembroke (left).

A locomotive hauls three tank cars through Calais (above).

Railroad Continued from Page 28 open ground storage,” the engineering study reported.

A new trans-load facility would possibly handle: • Domestic and international containers (not currently shipped through Eastport); • Center-beam flat cars (for building materials); • Dry bulk transfer (such as animal feeds, cement, grain, and wood pellets); • Liquid bulk transfer (such as chemicals, petroleum products, and slurries).

The “Eastport Gateway Project” revealed that a trans-load facility should cover at least 22 acres, with an expansion “to approximately 72 acres” possible in the future. The report identified and discussed four sites where a trans-load facility could be built in Perry: • Site 1 “lies east of Route US 1 and south of Route 190 where it intersects Route 1,” the report indicated. Railroad tracks must be extended across Route 1 to reach this site — and the report listed four reasons for not using it.

• Site 2 “lies west of Route 1 and north of the railroad right-of-way and the Little River tidal estuary,” the engineering study indicated.

“However, most is not useable due to the tidal Little River and long tidal finger that slices the site almost in half.” The “Eastport Gateway Project” rejected this site, too.

• Site 3 “is located along the rail corridor between Golden Road and South Meadow Road” in Perry, according to the report. Space limitations led HNTB to reject this site.

• Site 4 “occupies a wooded upland further along the rail corridor towards Ayers Junction,” the report indicated. The site offers excellent

space to build sidings and a warehouse and lies away “from the developed area of Perry, any tidal watercourses, grade crossings and potential impacts to residents.” The “Eastport Gateway Project” prefers this site to the other three.

Field inspections were conducted along the affected railroad corridors in mid-June 2009. From Ayers Junction to Perry, the abandoned Eastport Branch remains passable to snowmobilers in winter; local ATVers are working to restore the trail as labor and materials become available. This 8.9-mile section would require extensive reconstruction.

Bridges inspected along the Eastport Branch included a 31-foot timber trestle spanning Ohio Brook east of Ayers Junction and a 200foot timber trestle spanning the Pennamaquan River. These bridges have since been partially restored so that ATVs and snowmobiles can cross both waterways. Technicians also inspected a 110-foot steelgirder bridge spanning the Little River; this bridge likely would not be needed if a future trans-load facility was constructed at Site 4 as recommended by the “Eastport Gateway Project.” The report recommended replacing all three bridges if the Eastport Branch is rebuilt.

The “Eastport Gateway Project” cited four options and their estimated costs for building a Perry trans-load facility and rehabilitating railroad tracks from there to Calais; each option included cost estimates to upgrade supporting track in New Brunswick.

Cost estimates for work within Maine ranged from $37.8 million to $57.7 million, based on rail-car weights and train speeds. All four options included $9.882 million for initial trans-load facility construction.

Will commercial trains once again roll from Calais to Ayers Junction to Perry? Funding will ultimately determine if this happens.

So until that time, Washington County economic developers can only stand at the Ayers Junction railroad wye east of Route 214 and dream about trains once more running through Down East Maine.

Page 28

Perspective April 9

Cyan Magenta Yellow Black

28, Saturday | April 9, 2011, Bangor Daily News PERSPECTIVE 2011 TRANSPORTATION

Expansion at Eastport Could Spur Rail Renewal Down East ■ BY BRIAN SWARTZ, SPECIAL SECTIONS EDITOR

W

ith the Eastport Port Authority undertaking a $7 million expansion project, could commercial rail service return to eastern Washington Coun-

ty?

Until 1978, the Maine Central Railroad operated trains to Eastport along a 15½-mile spur from Ayers Junction in Pembroke. The spur primarily served sardine canneries located in Eastport, with Lubec-based canneries sometimes transporting their products by boat or truck to Eastport for transshipment to rail cars.

When the sardine canning industry faded 40-50 years ago, shipments dropped dramatically along the Eastport Branch; the MCRR abandoned it in 1978. Although the rails and ties vanished from Perry to Eastport, the original rail bed remains visible alongside Route 190 between Sipayik and Carlow Island in Eastport.

In 1985, the Maine Central abandoned its 134mile Calais Branch, which ran from Brewer to Ayers Junction. The Maine Department of Transportation quickly acquired this branch — and also, fortunately: • 12.56 miles extending from Ayers Junction to St. Croix Junction in Calais in Calais; • 8.9 miles extending from Ayers Junction to a point just west of Route 1 in Perry.

In September 2010, the MDOT officially opened 84 miles of the former Calais Branch as the Down East Sunrise Trail, connecting Ayers Junction with Washington Junction in Hancock. After removing the existing rails and ties, a contractor had rebuilt the corridor as a four-season, multi-use recreational trail.

The MDOT negotiated with local ATV and snowmobile clubs to let them use the PembrokePerry rail line as a recreational trail. If sufficient snow covers the Pembroke-Calais rail line in winter, snowmobilers can use that corridor, too.

Today, the only remaining commercial rail service in Washington County involves the Pam Am Railway and a 10.6-mile spur connecting Milltown Junction in Calais with the Woodland Pulp LLC pulp mill in Baileyville. Purchased from Domtar by the International Grand Investment Corp. of Hong Kong, the mill produces only pulp; Domtar had already shut down an existing paper machine.

According to the “Eastport Gateway Project — Engineering Study” completed by HNTB for the Eastport Port Authority and released in August 2009, a commercial port opened in Eastport in 1977, the year before MCRR abandoned its Eastport Branch. That abandonment limited the sur-

Photo Courtesy of Jim Lowe

The $7-million Eastport Port Authority expansion project underway at Estes Head in Eastport will improve the port’s capability to handle different cargoes. The Eastport Port Authority is studying the possibility of rebuilding existing railroad tracks from Calais to Pembroke and installing new tracks to a new trans-load facility in Pembroke.

The construction project currently underway at Estes Head will add a bi-directional conveyor system, an outdoor storage area, and a warehouse.

When completed, the project will provide the Eastport Port Authority with additional capability to handle specific cargoes.

According to the “Eastport Gateway Project,” a “lack of rail NEWS Photos by Brian Swartz freight service” hampers cargo Pulling three tank cars from Woodland Pulp LLC in Baileyville, a Pam Am diversification and future Railways locomotive approaches Calais in eastern Washington County. growth at Eastport. “Rail freight Proposals exist to restore rail service from Calais to a new trans-load access is a necessity if the Port facility near Route 1 in Perry; this facility would handle rail-to-truck of Eastport is to continue to transfers for the Eastport Port Authority. grow and provide increased economic vitality to Washingface shipment of freight to Eastport to 100,000- ton County,” the report states. pound trucks.

The Eastport Port Authority commissioned the The Eastport Port Authority gradually increased engineering study “to estimate the cost of restoring shipments via Estes Head over the years; shipments rail freight service” to Eastport “and to determine a exceeded 400,000 tons in 2010. Baileyville-pro- feasible location, layout and cost for a rail to truck duced pulp comprises most tonnage, with dairy trans-load facility within reasonable distance” of cows recently appearing on Eastport cargo mani- Estes Head, according to the report. fests.

As quoted by Christopher Cousins in the March Despite its excellent deep-water pier at Estes 22, 2011 NEWS, Eastport Port Authority director Head, the Eastport Port Authority primarily han- Christopher Gardner noted that “if we can garner dles outgoing cargo; eastern Maine’s manufactur- that rail connection or at least bring it close to the ing infrastructure requires little inbound cargo, nearby town of Perry, there’s a lot of markets out especially with nearby ports available at Searsport there to be captured.” and Saint John, New Brunswick.

At Estes Head, the Eastport Port Authority pier

has berths measuring 900 feet and 550 feet; the ocean depth is 64 feet at mean low tide. Extending a railroad from Perry directly to Estes Head likely will not occur; rebuilding the 21 miles of railroad from St. Croix Junction to a Perry trans-load facility could happen, if funding becomes available.

The “Eastport Gateway Project” examined the construction factors and costs related to rebuilding the existing rail line and a Perry trans-load facility; possible track upgrades included operating 263,000- or 286,000-pound cars on the line.

“The purpose of a rail to truck transfer facility in Perry is to facilitate the transfer of various commodities to and from rail cars to trucks, both imports and exports, as well as to warehousing and See RAILROAD, Page 27

If funding becomes available to rebuild 8.9 miles of railroad between Pembroke and Perry, the existing trestle over Ohio Brook in Pembroke would be replaced.