Antique maps and the latest numbers from the U.S. Commerce Department are unlikely allies. But, in fixing Maine’s true geographic location and the price the state pays for ignoring it, they may prove to be the best friends an east-west highway could have.

The maps belong to Bangor Mayor Tim Woodcock, longtime supporter of a modern highway for the state’s northern tier. They show Maine not as an isolated cul-de-sac north of Boston but as the shortest trade route between the Canadian Maritimes and Quebec. The thriving medium-sized cities of the Maritimes need a connection with the economic powerhouse of Montreal and Maine lies right in the way.

The numbers released by Commerce Friday are those of a state headed in the wrong direction, a state that can’t be bothered to look at a map. Maine’s per capita income is a distant last in New England, 36th nationally.

Worse yet, it’s dropping. In 1990, Maine’s average annual wage was about 85 percent of the U.S. average. Today, it is below 82 percent. Population is stagnant, a true oddity given the relatively trouble-free, pleasant lifestyle available here.

Actually, this dismal picture may be even worse than the feds say. Christopher St. John of the Maine Center for Economic Policy observes that much of the too-modest increase in average income is due to the influx of well-off retirees. A generous pension is fine as the just reward for a productive working life, but it is a poor substitute for creating good-paying jobs. Retirees are nice folks, but they are poor substitutes for the young people fleeing the state in search of a future.

In Augusta, there are reams of economic studies showing that Maine is growing and thriving only in the I-95/Turnpike corridor. The connection between good transportation, the ability to move people and goods quickly and safely, is well established and, as NEWS reporter Letitia Baldwin’s three-part series concluding today demonstrates, support for an east-west highway is growing.

A pool of federal, state and local money is being assembled for a comprehensive study. Town officials, tired of looking at empty stores and factories, are signing on. Residents are skeptical yet hopeful.

Opponents of the project worry lest they end up with a four-lane slab of asphalt plowing through their quaint village square. They fret about the changes a highway would bring.

They need not. A modern highway, by definition, would not go through the center of town, where it would contend with every four-way stop, traffic light and school crossing. Maine already has that in two lanes, which, of course, is the problem. As for change, the bigger concern should be the change now being wrought as towns empty out.

The state’s major environmental groups have yet to be heard from. Now, early in the planning stage, is the time. If there are particular routes that should be followed and particular roads that can be widened with minimal environmental impact, environmentalists must work with planners from the start. This project needs guidance, not objections.

For too long, Maine has accepted being last, it has relied on the trickle-down from economic development in southern New England to bail it out. The Commerce numbers prove Maine has reached a dead end. Woodcock’s century-old maps show the way out.