Casco Bay Lines gets $3.4M grant for next phase of terminal renovations

Courtesy / FTA U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, announces the $3.4 million grant award to Casco Bay Lines outside the ferry service's terminal, on the Maine State Pier in Portland.

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By Staff

Casco Bay Lines, the quasi-public ferry service that runs to seven southern Maine islands, has won a $3.4 million grant from the Federal Transit Administration to fund the next stage of renovations for the ferries’ Portland terminal.

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, FTA Acting Administrator K. Jane Williams and other officials visited the terminal Thursday to announce the award, one of nine competitive grants made recently to passenger ferry systems by the administration.

The grants total $32.8 million, and also included awards to ferry projects in Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York.

The terminal on the Maine State Pier was built in 1988 to accommodate 500,000 passengers annually. By 2011, nearly 1 million people were using the ferry service each year, which led its governing agency, the Casco Bay Island Transit District, to launch a multi-phase renovation of the terminal.

Phase I, which included berth improvements and a new waiting area and ticket office, was completed in 2014. Phase II, completed last year, included a second-floor expansion of the terminal building, site improvements and reconditioning of the pier foundation.

The third and final phase of the renovation project will make infrastructure modifications to improve safety and traffic flow at the terminal, according to a news release from Collins’ office.

“The competitive grant funding awarded today is critical to ongoing terminal improvements that will enhance safety and manageability of growing passenger, freight and vehicle traffic here at Casco Bay Lines,” the ferry service’s general manager, Hank Berg, said in the release.

Casco Bay Lines transported 1.1 million passengers last year, as well as 500,000 pieces of freight and over 36,000 vehicles. The ferry service in 2018 also received a $6 million grant from the FTA to help fund replacement of an aging ferry in its five-vessel fleet.