Dead-end view

From their vantage point at I-95’s last exit, it is understandable for Houlton officials to worry about what an east-west highway and an extension of the interstate would bring. But before the town council takes a formal stand against change, it should consider what it would preserve.

The status quo is the long, slow and painful decline of northern Maine. It is an economy of high unemployment and low wages. It is a population that’s been shrinking for more than half a century. It is a future without a future.

The shiretown of the County knows this. After all, it would be hard not to observe that Aroostook County now has 20,000 fewer residents than it had in 1960 or that Houlton had more townspeople during the Hoover administration than it does today. Surely someone has noticed that a couple of generations of young folk have gone away for college or a first job and never come back.

But Houlton also knows, to a small yet important degree, the good that comes from having access to a modern highway. After all, that new cymbal manufacturer coming to town didn’t pick Houlton because of the scenery, pleasant though it may be. Houlton is getting a new cymbal factory because it’s on the road that leads to cymbal buyers.

Other towns in Aroostook, Washington and Piscataquis counties need small, clean, steady employers like CYMCO, and that’s what the Houlton Town Council lost sight of Monday when it indicated it may oppose these highway projects. Modern highways aren’t about the gas stations, truck stops and convenience stores that cluster around the exits. They aren’t about whether a shopper will drive another 10 or 20 miles for the weekly groceries. They’re about giving business access to markets and, as a result, the ability to create jobs.

One can trace the decline of northern Maine back to the early years of this century, when population growth first slowed, then stagnated and finally reversed. But one need only recap the current decade to get a crash course in the trickle-up economy of New England.

Maine’s economy collapsed in the early 1990s because Massachusetts’ economy collapsed. It has gradually recovered because Massachusetts has recovered and it has done so not in a spotty way but in a steady northerly wave. To thrive, Portland needs a strong Boston, Bangor needs a strong Portland and Houlton needs a strong Bangor. Houlton gets some assurance of that with an east-west highway. With the I-95 extension, it gets a strong St. John Valley as a bonus.

The only significant job growth in Maine for close to three decades has been along the corridors served by I-95 and the turnpike. It has taken nearly that long for the idea of modern highways for northern Maine to go from wishful thinking to a concrete plan gaining widespread support and undergoing serious study. It must not deteriorate into an argument over who gets to provide the pit stops.