Panel plots course for connector road

HOLDEN – In what one state transportation official described as an exercise in avoidance, members of the Interstate 395-Route 9 public advisory committee Wednesday night began the work of plotting some possible routes for a proposed connector road. Their work proved much more challenging than it might sound on the surface.

Divided into three groups, nearly 20 PAC members armed with markers and templates hunched over large maps of the study area. A system of color coding identified the areas the group must work to avoid because they are protected by federal or state law. These include such features as areas that are home to endangered species, wetlands, flood plains, wellheads, public land and historic sites. Also depicted were areas the group might want to steer clear of because they comprise farmland, deer yards and relatively developed land.

In the 45 minutes allotted them, the three groups came up with at least a dozen variables, some relatively direct and others leading through areas with no or light development.

The broad 1,000-foot-wide corridors PAC members came up with are just a jumping-off point.

According to study team member Bill Plumpton, a project manager with Gannett Fleming in Harrisburg, Pa., a team of state Department of Transportation planners will spend the next 30 to 45 days laying out the broad corridors on a series of overlays and refining alignments within the corridors, again with an eye to minimizing impact to environmental and social features. The consolidated maps could be ready for PAC members’ review by late June, when they plan to meet again.

Since they began meeting regularly late last year, the PAC members and a study team comprising state and federal highway officials have been heavily involved in the nuts and bolts of the study process. The study, which requires a hard look at the environmental and social effects the proposed road might have, ultimately will lead to a decision on whether it would address traffic issues in the area – and if and where it should be built.

The National Environmental Policy Act, the federal law that is guiding the study process, stipulates that equal consideration must be given to the option of doing nothing, which would involve improving existing roads.

According to proponents, a connector road would reduce some of the truck traffic in downtown Brewer and on Routes 46 and 9 in Holden and Eddington. It also would ease some of the safety problems in that area. The road also is considered a key step toward providing an east-west connection linking Interstate 95 with Routes 9 and 2.

Members of the study team earlier said traffic in the area is expected to increase dramatically during the next three decades. Most of the traffic growth is expected to affect Route 1A between I-395 and Route 46, and Route 46 between Routes 9 and 1A.

Projections suggest the corridors could be affected by projected increases in so-called “east-west” travel between Route 1A and Route 9, and on the span of Route 1A connecting the Bangor area with Ellsworth and Acadia National Park.

In addition, the connector road would need to resolve existing travel problems. During a session earlier this year, the group cited safety as its foremost concern. Other key elements included travel efficiency, preserving the integrity of existing neighborhoods and economic development, as well as a reasonable financial return for any investment, easy access for emergency vehicles, connectivity with existing roads and the preservation of historical and archaeological resources.