HOLDEN – Residents wishing to weigh in on a proposed Interstate 395-Route 9 connector road will have one more chance to do so before the panel appointed to advise the state meets next week.

Town councilors scheduled a community meeting for 2 p.m. Sunday at Holden School.

The purpose of the weekend session is to brief residents on a recently developed option for the proposed connector, local officials said during a special council meeting Wednesday night.

Though all five of the town’s councilors said they supported the route developed by the planning board, municipal staff and the town’s transportation consultant, councilors agreed to defer an official vote to that end Wednesday out of concern that residents had not been given adequate notice.

During the last meeting of the I395-Route 9 public advisory committee meeting two months ago, Holden representatives were told it would be helpful if the community chose a route acceptable to the community in time for the group’s next session.

That meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 20, at Holbrook School in Holden.

Holden’s so-called Corporate Boundary Route represents a blend of the option known as 2B – the option favored by many in the community – and existing utility easements, both of which should be familiar to those who’ve been watching the planning process unfold over the past two years.

Simply put, the route now being championed runs from the end of Interstate 395 on Route 1A, heads northeast along the Holden-Brewer line and then east once it crosses into Eddington, running south of Route 9 until ending beyond the intersection of Routes 9 and 46, near the Eddington-Clifton town line.

However, where much of 2B is on the Brewer side of the line, Holden is proposing that it be shifted to the Holden side and then follow existing utility easements as much as possible.

The Holden proposal also includes a spur that would pick up some of the truck traffic on Route 178, which runs through Bradley, Brewer and Eddington, not yet addressed by any of the other options project officials have considered.

The point of the project is to improve safety and cut truck traffic in downtown Brewer and on Routes 46 and 9 in Holden and Eddington. State officials also see the road as a link in an east-west route through Maine.

The ultimate goal is to find the alternative that best meets area transportation and safety needs, satisfies federal and state rules and has the least adverse effect on the environment and people. The route also must be cost-effective.