The effort to turn concern about the economic decline of northern Maine from hand-wringing into action gained two valuable allies this week: Sen. Rick Bennett, who went from skeptic to supporter of an east-west highway; and the U.S. Census Bureau, which added a new batch of predictable numbers to the already towering mountain of depressing statistics.

The Census estimates tell Maine nothing it already did not know. The state’s total population is stagnant — it’s 1.2 million today, nearly the same 1.2 million it was when the last full census was taken eight years ago. The few who do move in settle south and along the coast. Those already here are packing up and doing the same. From Belfast on down is the place to be. That’s where the jobs are.

To understand why northern Maine is emptying out and southern Maine is filling up (and sprawling out), just look at a map. The standard variety depicts Maine as an isolated peninsula sitting atop the rest of the county. There’s only one direction to go from here, and that’s south. South along I-95, the state’s only interstate highway, the only interstate highway in the county that dead-ends into a potato field.

The map Maine needs, the map that provides the answer to northern Maine’s problem, would show the state for what it is — a pleasant piece of real estate, rich in natural resources and hard-working people, smack between St. John, Yarmouth and Moncton to the east and Montreal and Toronto to the west. Maine is, or could be, Eastern Canada’s shortcut, its trade route.

Which is why Bennett’s proposal to appropriate $150,000 for a study on the economic impact of an east-west (or, as the Norway Republican prefers, west-east) highway is so important. Just as the Census figures merely confirmed what Maine already knew, this study would confirm what other states know and what Maine seems on the verge of figuring out: economic growth follows modern transportation. For too long, an east-west highway has been seen as a Bangor-to-Calais pet project, driven largely by Democrats. This interest from an influential western Maine Republican is just what is needed.

This highway would be a major departure from the norm. Instead of repaving and widening an existing road to alleviate existing traffic jams, this project would create, mostly from existing secondary roads, a modern high-speed highway intended to create traffic, the traffic of commerce. All due respect to the Maine Department of Transportation, but its current front-burner initiative to develop a network of high-speed ferries and Boston-bound passenger rail is a rehash of the old north-south thinking, it merely reinforces the present inequity. Fancy ferries and touristy trains let the rich get richer. An east-west highway lets the poor get richer.

Despair and hope

As discouraging as the Census estimates are, Laurie LaChance, a state economist, offered an even bleaker picture of northern Maine’s decline in a speech before the Economic Growth Council in Bangor earlier this month.

A few lowlights: The exodus from north to south is nothing new; it’s been going on for decades, slowing only briefly during the recession of the early 90s, when even sounthern Maine wasn’t creating new jobs. When Maine does grow, it grows along the coast, thanks to retirees, and along I-95, thanks to the folks still making a living. Two-thirds of all Maine jobs are clustered along I-95. The gap between rich and poor regions of the state, the disparities in unemployment rates and personal income, has been observed and fretted over for more than 30 years, yet it has not closed an iota. If it moves at all, it widens. The poorest counties also are the most vulnerable to even further decline as the good-paying jobs in traditional industry — shoes, textiles, paper — disappear.

Yet, there is reason for hope. LaChance noted that Maine, while not yet a real player in high tech, is not watching the digital age pass it by. It is the first state in the nation to have all of its schools and libraries wired for the internet. There is a computer in more than half of Maine homes and that is increasing rapidly. High tech employment is growing at twice the rate of other jobs.

Others in Augusta are taking this seriously as well. There is considerable support among legislators to increase funding for university research. While not enough for Maine to move out of its position as last among the states, it’s better than the current investment of virtually nothing. Gov. King’s One Maine initiative has a real shot at being something more than just another series of economic-development studies and unread reports. Some of the specific legislation accompanying One Maine, such as a an increased payroll tax break for businesses creating jobs in high unemployment regions, could be of real help.

But, of course, the information superhighway and job-friendly laws mean nothing if businesses can’t do business and workers can’t get to work. The Other Maine, the Neglected Maine, needs its own I-95, whether it’s called east-west or west-east. That’s been apparent all along. Maine’s just been looking at the wrong map.