A decade later, construction on second phase of Acadia transit center ramps up
Courtesy / Maine DOT
A project rendering shows the welcome center and transit hub to service Mount Desert Island and Acadia National Park.
After a 10-year delay, work is ramping up this week on the second phase of a transit hub and visitor center in Trenton.
Plans for the Acadia Gateway Center advanced when the Maine Department of Transportation awarded the project to Nickerson & O’Day Inc. of Brewer.
Nickerson & O’Day's winning bid of $27.7 million was higher than the $23 million estimated by project planners several years ago, though construction costs have risen dramatically in recent years.
Construction trailers are being set up this week and MDOT is planning an event on-site to celebrate the project on May 22.
The goal is to complete construction in May 2025.
Phase one of the center, on Route 3, was completed in 2012 and included a bus maintenance facility, park-and-ride lot, propane fueling station, access road and administrative offices for Downeast Transportation, the nonprofit operator of the Island Explorer shuttle bus system and countywide transit systems.
The goal of the project now underway is to build a welcome center and transit hub to service Mount Desert Island and Acadia National Park.
A plan launched in 2007
The project will incorporate several sustainability features, including a geothermal heating and cooling system, a rooftop solar panel array, and 17 electric vehicle charging stations. The new Acadia Gateway Center will sit between Ellsworth and Mount Desert Island; its location was designed to intercept traffic traveling south on Route 3 before arriving onto MDI.
The overall project got its start in 2007, when Friends of Acadia bought the 369-acre Crippens Creek property in Trenton and sold 152 acres to the Department of Transportation to carry forward the center’s construction.
The center has been the home base of the Island Explorer buses since 2011. The bus maintenance facility is tucked back out of sight from Route 3.
Most of the money for the cost of construction now ramping up comes from the Federal Transit Administration. The National Park Service contributed $4 million, matched and exceeded by transportation bonds and other funds provided by MaineDOT, according to Friends of Acadia.
Friends of Acadia pledged $1 million and up to $225,000 for solar panels on the building and for long-term operational costs.
Goals of the project include reducing traffic congestion on the Route 3 corridor and in Acadia National Park by attracting visitors and commuters to the Island Explorer transit system and other transportation alternatives.
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