The historic Lewiston train depot is home to the Royal Oak Room, a wedding and special events venue. Submitted photo
LEWISTON — How could a rebirth of passenger rail service change downtown?
As part of the Build Maine urban planning conference, one of Thursday’s “Beer and Brainstorm” sessions at the Royal Oak Room — itself a former train station — will be imagining what the downtown would look like if rail service were to come back.
The concept is called transit oriented development, said Lincoln Jeffers, Lewiston’s director of economic and community development.
“Really what the conversion will be about will be saying: ‘OK, we’ve got a hospital right up the hill, we’ve got Bates College nearby, we’ve got St. Mary’s nearby, we’ve got downtown and the Bates Mill complex. If we brought rail back to the downtown, what sort of development might it spark and what sort of things would you like to see?” Jeffers said.
Lewiston, Auburn, the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority and Maine Department of Transportation are in the homestretch of the Lewiston–Auburn Passenger Rail Service Plan study.
That brainstorming session is one of several being held between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. Thursday at 1 Bates St. It is free and open to the public.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.