AUGUSTA -- A Texas Roadhouse restaurant could be coming to the Turnpike Mall.

Representatives of the company applied to the city for a building permit to construct a 7,135-square- foot restaurant in a standalone building that would rise near the existing Whitten Road access drive, in the mall parking lot.

The Texas Roadhouse chain has 295 restaurants in 44 states, including Maine locations in Bangor and Scarborough, said Travis Doster, the company's public relations director.

Doster describes the restaurant as a casual, family restaurant known for its energetic atmosphere.

"It's a high- energy place -- our servers line dance, we play country music in the restaurant," Doster said. "We bake fresh bread every five minutes. Everything we make is from scratch right down to the croutons and bacon bits, everything."

He said each restaurant employs a meat cutter, so its steaks are all hand- cut.

The building permit has not yet been approved, according to Code Enforcement Officer George Soucy, because the city is waiting for additional information.

Because the building permit has not been approved, Doster declined to discuss specifics of the proposed Augusta site. But he said most of the company's restaurants seat 250 guests and employ about 105 workers.

The restaurants are open for dinner during the week, lunch and dinner on weekends.

Despite the Texas in the name, the 15-year-old restaurant chain is actually based in Kentucky.

David Allen, a traffic engineer for the Maine Department of Transportation, said in a letter on file with the city that the restaurant is projected to generate 57 new vehicle trips during weekday peak traffic hours. A projected 492 new vehicle trips would be generated on a daily basis from diners going to and from the business.

A "scoping session" to consider granting a traffic movement permit for the project is planned for 1 p.m. Monday at the transportation department's Region 2 Office, 45 Commerce Drive in Augusta.

The restaurant, according to the building permit filed with the city, would cost about $750,000.

Doster said each restaurant has a "Willie's Corner," in honor of country music star Willie Nelson, who is a friend of the company's founder and a co-owner of two Austin, Texas, area Texas Roadhouse restaurants himself. Diners can purchase Willie Nelson items at the restaurants.

"Willie's a friend of ours. Country music is a big part of our concept," Doster said.

Keith Edwards -- 621- 5647

kedwards@centralmaine.com