PORTLAND —Drivers could encounter a traffic nightmare in Portland today.

City officials said Tuesday that they expect significant delays as a train makes its way slowly through the city, unloading rails for the extension of Amtrak’s Downeaster service from Portland to Brunswick.

Workers will unload 6,700-pound rails along the tracks, which will require the closure of about a dozen rail crossings of city streets for about 30 minutes each as the train passes. The crossings include heavily traveled streets such as Forest Avenue.

“There is no question this is going to have a major impact on traffic,” said Nicole Clegg, the city’s spokeswoman.

The work is set to begin around noon, when workers in a 33-car train, more than a quarter-mile long, will start unloading 1,650-foot-long rails along both sides of the track, starting nearing Riverside Street.

The train will move slowly south through the city.

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The work is too dangerous to be done at night, when traffic is lighter, said Patricia Quinn, executive director of the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority, operator of the Downeaster passenger service. “You have these pieces of rail that can flip or turn,” she said.

Portland police and security from PanAm Railways, which owns the track and is doing the work, will travel with the train to stop and direct traffic at each crossing.

City and railroad officials met Monday to come up with a plan to make sure emergency vehicles can get where they are needed throughout the process.

Electronic signs alerting drivers to the upcoming work were installed Tuesday at several approach points.

Updates on the work will be posted on the Downeaster website, www.amtrakdowneaster.com.

Officials said it’s difficult to predict the length of the delays, but they expect them to continue until 6 p.m. today.

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Depending on how quickly the work proceeds, the traffic delays could continue into Thursday.

Crossings and intersections are expected to be affected at: Congress Street; Allen Avenue; Read and Walton streets; and Forest Avenue at Woodford’s Corner and Saunders, Woodford, Revere, Lincoln, Coyle, Ashmont and Prospect streets.

The expansion is being paid for with $35 million in federal economic stimulus money.

A crew will install the rails in the coming days. Since the middle of August, 14 miles of rail have been unloaded and installed from Brunswick south, Quinn said.

Next year, crews will work on improvements to the 36 road crossings and intersections along the 30 miles of track between Brunswick and Portland.

Staff Writer Beth Quimby can be contacted at 791-6363 or at: bquimby@pressherald.com

 


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