Planning a bridge

Gov. Angus King last year laid out a vision of an east-west highway across the middle of Maine. Philanthropist Sidney Unobskey on today’s op-ed page wants to make sure the state starts this project right. His set of principles for one end of the highway, a bridge planned between Calais and St. Stephen, is a farsighted guide that could help all of Washington County.

One of Mr. Unobskey’s key points is the following: The bridge planning process in Calais should explicitly acknowledge that economic development in Washington County is a major purpose of the study and a major need of the area, and that any bridge solution should be measured against the economic development goal just as it will be measured against the criteria of traffic flow and cost.

This point may sound self-evident. After all, states don’t build bridges just to keep crane operators happy. But while federal regulations charge states with looking at the economic impact of any major highway project, unless the Department of Transportation is asked to look specifically at a particular kind of specific kind of economic impact – in this case, the potential of this bridge to spur development that will most effectively help the long-term health of the county – it will not generate that data.

From Gov. King’s east-west highway plan and DOT Commissioner John Melrose’s recent comments on the highway as a development tool, it seems Maine government understands that message. However, Mr. Unobskey’s commentary today and a previous one Dec. 11, 1999, are important as a way to bring area residents together to focus on a single plan of action. Mr. Unobskey points out that his proposal isn’t the only one worth considering. But it is a good place for people to focus after so much discussion of this project.

Simply allowing cars and trucks to get from one place to another faster and more safely promotes economic development. But that represents only a small part of the kind of development that is possible with proper planning. On the op-ed page today, one possible planning guide.