Holden selectmen oppose 2 connector road options

HOLDEN – During a meeting Monday night, selectmen unanimously adopted a resolution expressing opposition to the two connector road options that state transportation officials have retained for further study.

The proposed connector road is aimed at easing congestion and improving safety in Brewer, Eddington and Holden.

In their resolution, selectmen noted that the two alternatives they opposed would violate the town’s state-approved comprehensive plan and have adverse effects on residential areas and environmentally sensitive areas, including deer wintering yards.

The two alternatives at issue, known as 3EIK and 4B, both begin near the Interstate 395 interchange on outer Wilson Street in Brewer. Both end on Route 9 in Eddington, near the Clifton town line.

Alternative 4B follows Route 1A southeast to Holden, where it turns northeast roughly parallel to Route 46 before reaching its endpoint. Local officials note that this route would cross Copeland Hill and South roads as well as Routes 1A and 46 before reaching its endpoint.

The alternative known as 3EIK heads north after crossing the Holden town line, skirts east behind the Eaton Ridge residential development and then heads east to its endpoint. This alternative, officials note, would cross both Mann Hill and Levenseller roads.

During a February meeting of the public advisory committee assigned to the connector road project, Maine Department of Transportation officials announced that the state had decided to do away with all the alternatives except 3EIK and 4B as well as the so-called “no-build” option that must be considered under the federal law guiding the process. DOT representatives, however, already have conceded that doing nothing neither addressed needs within the study area nor satisfied the study purpose.

Since then, two previously scrapped routes – a modified version of 2B and the upgrade of Route 1A – were put back on the table for consideration. A new route also was proposed and DOT officials agreed to consider it. All three changes resulted from successful lobbies on the part of several factions from Holden, including town officials, members of the business community and representatives from several residential neighborhoods.

As Holden town officials see it, some of the proposed paths for the connector road would further divide their town, which they said was split in half when Route 1A was built. They also say that the DOT’s preferred alternatives could siphon traffic from businesses along Route 1A, the town’s only commercial corridor. To that end, the town retained traffic consultant Michael Waugh to look out for the community’s interests.