Highway North is within our reach

We must applaud our Department of Transportation and Vanasse Hangen Brustlin Inc. for their comprehensive studies, reports and plans. Their studies were necessary for due process and for proper decision- making by Aroostook County citizens, the state of Maine and the federal government and they will be needed for the proper financing.

The reports help us solidify the premise that no one township or community, nor one political or economical interest shall dictate the destiny of the Highway North. This monumental project is for the benefit of all of Aroostook County. Hopefully, these studies and hearings foster within all of us a united determination to be involved justly and with sincerity for the benefit of the majority.

The Highway North project will become the largest development ever for Aroostook County. It will connect us with the rest of Maine and the country and will improve our share of prosperity. At some point north, it will connect us with the Trans-Canada Highway. Countless Americans and Canadians will travel. Good fortune will show itself to the proprietors and employees of businesses, motels, restaurants, shopping malls and related tourist industries.

The highway will bring safety to our entire population. It will bring security and save enormous time to our people and travelers. It will save millions for the trucking industry. It will encourage and invite businesses to locate into our county and provide employment for our families. It will eliminate the discrimination and the great injustice of isolation suffered for ages.

Why should anyone and why should any town be against such development? It is beyond my understanding. What is good for our neighbors and fellow citizens is good for all of us. What benefits northern, central and southern Aroostook benefits all of Aroostook County, the state and the nation.

This could be one of my last columns on Highway North. I have been advocating the fulfillment of that promise for 20 years. The project is something that I may not see completed but I feel great about it. If only it can help the good Aroostook people and its families then it will become rewarding for me and all of us involved. It is time to do something about the status quo.

Our population and our businesses are declining. We are not following our country’s idealism. Let us not be driven by the selfish attitudes that a highway needs to pass by our front doors to do business. This is a myth. We don’t build highways for that purpose.

Let us let our population and the travelers decide where they want to exit, where they want to go, and what they want to do. Why impose such restrictions on them? Let us consider without bias the best economic and environmental plan and let us all pull together.

We have good representation at the federal and state levels. Let us advise them that our government should not give all to big cities. Why the billions for the Boston Big Dig, New York and other large cities’ highway projects already overpopulated?

Let us also invest in developing rural America. It is by far a better worthy investment. With new information and communication technology, many business ventures no longer need to be situated in congested and in urban areas to produce. Let us follow the times.

I applaud our local and national politicians. This highway project is within our reach. Please continue working with us until we reach our goal.

John F. Dionne is a retired businessman from Grand Isle.