EDDINGTON – Concerned with a lack of local comment on a proposal to build an Interstate 395-Route 9 connector road, leaders in Eddington have set a meeting on the topic for Eddington residents. The communitywide meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 8, at the Eddington School.

Russell Smith, an Eddington selectman and a member of a statewide advisory board on the road project, said the goal is to get plenty of local input on the proposal. Several options are on the examining table for the connector, and Smith said Eddington has been fairly quiet on the matter to this point.

“We want our own meeting,” Smith said, indicating some local folks “are not happy” with proposals that seem to be getting the most attention.

“We need to speak out,” said Smith. The meeting “is for Eddington residents so we can voice our opinion.”

The meeting will be moderated by Joan Brooks, vice-chairperson of the Eddington Board of Selectman. Brooks also is a member of the 20-member Public Advisory Committee studying various road routes.

Brooks said Ray Faucher, a project engineer with the Department of Transportation, will attend the meeting to answer questions and to present information on the proposed road project.

The proposed road, a limited access highway, is aimed at easing congestion and improving safety in Brewer, Eddington and Holden. State officials also see the road as a link in an east-west route through Maine. A 20-member advisory committee apparently has narrowed options under consideration. The route favored by Holden, called the “corporate boundary route,” is not the best for Eddington, according to Smith and others.

The corporate boundary proposal suggests beginning at the I-395 terminus in Brewer and heading north in Holden along the Brewer line, following existing utility easements where possible. It includes a spur that supposedly would pick up some truck traffic on Route 178, which runs through Bradley, Brewer and Eddington, traffic not addressed by another option.

“We’re not happy with that,” said Miller, adding that the suggested route would split up Eddington’s business section. Some people in Eddington don’t want the Route 178 spur, believing it won’t do what it is intended to do. Also, the spur could run through some residential areas and add extra cost to an already expensive project.

Business owner Rodney Buzzell Sr. is on the advisory committee and said his main concern is to get the connector in place. “There are so many accidents on Route 1A and Route 9 at various intersections that we need to move the process forward and fix the problem.”

The next meeting of the full public advisory committee is scheduled for a week after the Eddington meeting, Wednesday, Jan. 15, at the Holbrook School in East Holden.