YES on Question 4

“Do you favor a $56,850,000 bond issue for improvements to municipal and state roads, state and local bridges, airports, state ferry vessels and terminals and rail and marine facilities that makes the state eligible for approximately $129,740,000 in matching federal funds?”

There are a lot of reasons to support Question 4: more than 400 miles of highway work; 114 bridges repaired or replaced; safety projects at 17 airports; improvements to rail lines, ferries and cargo ports. Not to mention the nearly $130 million in federal money it brings home.

Transportation bond issues are standard referendum fare and have a winning streak of nearly 30 years going with voters, but this 1997 version is notable for a few reasons, particularly the attention the Maine Department of Transportation plan gives to Maine’s aging bridge inventory and the benefits the state will see from its ability to get more asphalt for the road-reconstruction buck.

Maine has 270 bridges that are 70 to 80 years old, at or near their expected life span. The aggressive new bridge program ($23.8 million from the bond with an $81.5 million federal match) takes on the worst of the lot, from replacing the congested Carlton Bridge at Bath-Woolwich and the perilously narrow Singing Bridge at Sullivan, to resurfacing, shoring up and widening 112 other local, county and state bridges from one end of the state to the other.

For highways, $12.55 million from the bond will be matched by $40.7 million in federal money. New flexibility in federal standards requires less auxiliary work, such as replacing guardrails and culverts that don’t need replacing, meaning the road-building rule of thumb of $1 million per mile can, in many cases, be reduced by half or more. Voters in Northern Maine, long-suffering victims of Other Maine Syndrome, should note that of the $22 million earmarked for major reconstruction, more than half will go into Route 9, $1 million into Route 11 at Staceyville and $4.5 million into Aroostook County’s stretch of Route 1.

Airports will receive a boost of $6.4 million ($1.5 million state and $4.9 million federal), with work ranging from a major safety project at Rangely to a taxiway reconstruction at Bangor to helipad at Frenchboro to improve the island’s access to emergency medical services. Marine facilities will receive $2.15 from the bond and a federal match of $.84 million, with projects including the renovation of three ferries and the completion of Eastport’s new cargo terminal. Rail is in line for $5.15 million ($3.35 state and $1.8 million federal) to upgrade tracks statewide.

And all this can be done without a net increase in the state’s bonded debt, since the new borrowing is equal to an amount being retired this year. The Maine Department of Transportation has put together a package that is both fiscally responsible and enhances the state’s ability to move products and people quickly and safely. Question 4 deserves approval on Nov. 4.