Panel nixes Ellsworth traffic study Sponsor claims problem extends beyond city, with countywide effects

AUGUSTA – A legislative committee last week rejected a bill calling for a traffic study of the Ellsworth corridor, effectively killing the measure for this legislative session.

The Legislature’s Joint Transportation Committee voted 7-2 against the bill, which had been submitted by state Rep. Robert Crosthwaite, R-Ellsworth.

Although the bill did not set parameters on the “Ellsworth corridor,” Crosthwaite said Friday that any study would have to include Routes 1, 1A and 3, the major roads that carry traffic into Ellsworth and on toward Down East and Mount Desert Island.

Although the Maine Department of Transportation has focused some attention on Ellsworth in recent years -including a planned widening of High Street – Crosthwaite stressed that the traffic situation was a countywide issue since it affects not only the city, but also surrounding towns. He pointed out that the entire Hancock County delegation had signed on as co-sponsors of the bill, an indication of the interest in the issue throughout the county.

Those opposed to rejecting the bill included state Sen. Dennis Damon, D-Trenton, a co-sponsor who argued that traffic heading east and west and north and south all converged in Ellsworth. The area needs a study to find a way to alleviate that bottleneck, he said, noting that it was more than a traffic issue, it was an economic issue for Hancock County and the Down East region.

The fiscal note for the study, which would be conducted by the DOT, estimated the cost at $750,000 a year over two years, for a total cost of $1.5 million.

Bruce Van Note, acting deputy transportation commissioner, told legislators during a work session Friday that no funds had been allocated for such a study. Directing the department to conduct the Ellsworth study, he said, would take funds away from projects already included in the department’s two-year budget.

Van Note also raised the specter of a possible bypass for the Ellsworth area, an option that he said would have to be considered if the department conducted a corridor study for Ellsworth. If and when a study is done, he said, the National Environmental Policy Act requires that the department consider all options to address a problem before selecting one.

“A bypass has to be considered as an alternative, whether it’s selected or not,” Van Note said. “A bypass would have to be on the table.”

The issue of a bypass has been a thorn in the side of the city for more than 25 years, ever since business owners led opposition to a DOT plan for a bypass in the 1970s. That bypass was never built, and opposition has remained strong among some business owners who fear that a bypass would result in loss of traffic along the city’s Main Street and High Street, the two key commercial areas.

Crosthwaite told legislators that, although the City Council twice has turned down the idea of a bypass, councilors voted in December to request that DOT conduct a regional transportation study in the area. Crosthwaite, who also serves as a city councilor in Ellsworth, said that request from the city was the reason he submitted the bill.

Although legislators were familiar with traffic problems in Ellsworth and were sympathetic to Crosthwaite’s request, they bowed to the department, noting that there was a process in place to propose projects for DOT study. They suggested that the city work through the area’s Regional Transportation Advisory Committee, or RTAC, to have a study included in the DOT’s six-year plan and the next two-year budget.

Despite the bill’s failure, Crosthwaite said he would consider working on the local level and possibly putting together a committee to work with the RTAC on the issue.