EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first of nine stories explaining the bond issue questions facing voters in the Nov. 5 election.

AUGUSTA — The most bitterly contested issue in the Nov. 5 referendum election, and apparently the only one with active partisans on both sides, is the first question on the nine-part ballot.

The result of a successful petition drive last year, question No. 1 asks Maine voters if they want to stop the $100 million project to widen the southern 30 miles of the Maine Turnpike and enact a “sensible transportation policy.”

A “yes” vote would stop the turnpike widening and enact the new policy emphasizing non-construction alternatives in transportation projects. It also would direct the Maine Turnpike Authority to turn over all surplus to the Maine Department of Transportation for use on roads throughout the state.

A “no” vote would allow the turnpike widening to continue, assuming it wins approval from the Army Corps of Engineers, and keep transportation law the way it is now.

The turnpike widening — from four to six lanes from York to South Portland — has been vigorously debated for several years and now will be subject to voter referendum. Petitioners collected 73,500 signatures — a record number — to force the turnpike question onto the ballot.

Besides the turnpike widening, support for the referendum stemmed from a controversial plan opposed by many midcoast residents to bypass Route 1 with a new inland highway from Wiscasset to Belfast.

A Capitol News Service poll in June 1990 found 56.5 percent of those polled opposed the turnpike widening and 34.5 percent favored it.

But those trying to defeat the citizen initiative are focusing on the proposed new transportation policy as the most dangerous part of the proposal. They say the new policy would stop or delay hundreds of road-improvement projects planned by the Maine Department of Transportation throughout Maine.

“We see this as a legal nightmare,” says Bob Deis of the Vote No on #1 Coalition. “Any opponent of any project would have a whole new basis on which to file a lawsuit to stop the project. There’s always going to be someone who will oppose any single transportation project.”

Referendum opponents, including state Transportation Commissioner Dana Connors, say the proposed policy is seriously flawed and would cause costly delays with unnecessary studies and probably the loss of some federal funds that must be used within a certain period of time.

The Campaign for Sensible Transportation, a collection of environmental groups that wants to stop the turnpike project, says the new law would make Maine a national leader in environmentally sensitive transportation policy.

They say the policy only would make the DOT consider less costly and less damaging alternatives such as car pooling and mass transit before it undertook major projects. And they say the policy would force state transportation planners to consider public opinion more than they do now.

If passed, the referendum question would require the Maine Turnpike Authority to turn over all its surplus money to the DOT for road maintenance throughout the state. The authority now turns over $8.7 million a year to the DOT.

“It’s a waste of money, and we don’t need it,” Alan Caron of the Campaign for Sensible Transportation says of the turnpike widening. “We have lots of other projects that do need the money. This is an unnecessary boondoggle. It has less to do with congestion than it has to do with keeping the highway contractors well-fed.”

As for the controversial transportation policy, Caron says, “On a major project, we as taxpayers have a right to know that the state has done its homework.”

He also says, “You have a right to know if they’re going to put a road across your lawn.”

Caron says the reason referendum opponents are spending so much time focusing on the new transportation policy is that they know most Maine people oppose the turnpike widening.

“They decided they have to change the subject or they’re not going to win,” he said.

Referendum opponents say the proposed policy would hamstring the DOT with red tape.

“This is a lot more than just the turnpike. It is a referendum on 8,500 miles of state highway. This would create new red tape for all transportation projects, for every decision the MDOT makes,” says Barbara Trafton, chairman of the Campaign for Sensible Transportation.

The most controversial section of the proposed new policy states that state transportation planning decisions, investment decisions and project decisions must:

“Require that the full range of reasonable transportation alternatives be evaluated for all significant highway construction or reconstruction projects and give preference to transportation system management options, demand management strategies, improvements to the existing system, and other transportation modes before increasing highway capacity through road building activities.”

Referendum opponents claim this section would force the DOT to undertake costly, time-consuming studies for every road project and would put road construction at the bottom of priorities in a state where it should be at the top of the list.

Transportation Commissioner Connors says the DOT would be forced to evaluate and try out, or “give preference to,” non-construction alternatives on many projects.

“Just about everything we do, short of mere paving, is a capacity improvement,” says Connors. “Do you think we should be trying out these things on Route 9 or Route 1?”

Supporters like Everett B. Carson, executive director of the Natural Resources Council of Maine, say the new policy would require alternative studies only when road capacity was to be increased either by widening or new-road construction.

If alternatives to the turnpike widening were seriously examined, and widening still looked like the best alternative, then the project could proceed, he said.

“This is a new kind of transportation vision. We are trying to take a more thoughtful look,” says Carson.

He says the “doom and gloom arguments” of referendum opponents are similar to warnings by the bottling industry that Maine’s returnable-bottle law wouldn’t work and warnings by the paper industry that cleaning up Maine rivers would force the industry out of state. Neither of those predictions was accurate.

The Legislature approved the widening project proposed by the Maine Turnpike Authority in 1987. The Board of Environmental Protection approved the project on a 6-3 vote in October 1990.

The project would be paid for through revenue bonds issued by the Turnpike Authority that would be repaid by higher tolls on the 100-mile turnpike.

Project supporters say the widening is necessary for safety reasons and because the four-lane section from York to South Portland forms a bottleneck on the corridor that carries 90 percent of goods into and out of Maine.

If it gets the go-ahead, the turnpike construction project would take about four years to complete and employ about 1,400 construction workers. About half the project involves safety improvements on the oldest section of the Maine Turnpike, built in 1947.

Both sides are expected to wage vigorous advertising campaigns before the referendum and at least two televised debates are expected.

Through July 5, the Campaign for Sensible Transportation had raised $76,302 and the Vote No on #1 Coalition had raised $199,457, much of which came from contractors and engineers who would benefit from the construction project.