TWO-LANE MAINE

The Department of Transportation’s announcement that the number of options being considered for a connector between I-395 and Route 9 has been slashed from nine to two came as quite a surprise to many at a meeting in Holden Wednesday, including the project’s entire public advisory committee. Even more of a surprise was the announcement that the connector won’t be a four-lane, limited-access highway but just another two-lane road.

If there is one thing northern Maine does not need, it is a two-lane road that, at enormous expense and considerable disruption, will provide only marginal improvement to the existing links between I-395, a modern highway, and Route 9, the closest thing to a modern highway northern Maine is likely to get from the current administration. The “no-build” option, which must be considered by federal regulation, looks better all the time. At least for the time being.

Another thing northern Maine does not need is another bait and switch. This project was touted from the start as necessary because of expected dramatic increases in traffic on the 395/9 corridor. Now, it is scaled back because traffic projections do not warrant the additional investment. It was presented as proof the King administration was serious about laying the foundation for a true east-west highway after it determined mere upgrades to Route 9 – a little straightening out and a few passing lanes – would do for now. Now, there is no foundation.

The DOT asserts it is not abandoning the concept of modern road transportation in northern Maine – the two-lane connector will, after all, have limited access and a couple of passing lanes. This would be modern road transportation if this were 1950.

This development should be especially galling to the people of Calais, where the same process is under way regarding a new international crossing with Canada. It has always been the expectation – an expectation bolstered by the DOT itself – that this new crossing would be at the Calais Industrial Park. Now, the project is being steered out the city, to a bypass eight miles away and both the DOT and Gov. King have warned locals who insist on the industrial park site that they are interfering with plans for an east-west highway. It is clear now that there are no such plans.

It also is worth noting that the 395/9 and Calais bridge projects share another commonality – the DOT hired a Pennsylvania consulting firm to conduct both feasibility studies, as if local knowledge of a region suffering chronic economic and social decline would be a hindrance. Errors in the Calais study – such as describing a city that lost 14 percent of its people in the last decade as stable – are glaring. They have been pointed out repeatedly to the DOT, yet, as a final decision nears, they go uncorrected.

This disregard for local knowledge extends beyond the hiring of consultants. For the 395/9 and Calais projects, the DOT called upon local residents to participate in the federally required public advisory committees and then, in the end, ignored their advice. If the DOT is truly open to local input and can do no better than two lanes, it should listen to those who’ve said the need at the 395 end is improving safety and traffic flow on Route 1A. Stop lights and turning lanes ought to be doable and won’t tear up the countryside for no apparent reason.

Why this administration chose to adopt an unwritten policy that some transportation projects will be judged on their potential to generate future economic growth – such as the turnpike widening – while others – such as the east-west highway – are judged only on current economic activity is a mystery. What is obvious is that there still are Two Maines and one still moves on just two lanes.