BANGOR DAILY NEWS • November 8, 2025
A project to build a new quarter-mile road to a site where the state plans to construct a new $55 million judicial center could lead to other improvements and developments around the courthouse site, Ellsworth officials said. A parking lot for the Down East Sunrise Trail could finally be built in Ellsworth near the new courthouse site. The nearest public parking for the roughly 90-mile trail, which extends east from Ellsworth to Pembroke in Washington County, currently is three miles away. The courthouse development also opens the possibility of building public access into the Card Brook wetland. If the city gets an easement on part of the state-owned courthouse property, it would look into building a boardwalk trail.