Holden residents pan 3EIK-2 connector route

HOLDEN – Holden residents Tuesday voiced a resounding “no” to a proposed route that would connect I-395 to Route 9 and is looked upon with favor by federal, state and some local officials.

Giving a thumbs down to a connector option that has been touted as an effective compromise to solve a local controversy, about 150 residents told the Town Council at a meeting that they want another option, the corporate boundary route, put back on the table for consideration.

The route that residents voted on, dubbed 3EIK-2 or the Jim Ring route, was developed by Bangor City Engineer Jim Ring early last spring and was thought to be the answer to questions about where to put a limited access highway that will connect to Route 9 and someday will double as a link to the proposed East-West highway in Maine.

The route features 10.6 miles of new roadway at an estimated construction cost of $40 million, which is within the Maine Department of Transportation’s cost parameters. The route’s main attraction is that it would have the least impact on residences, with four homes marked for “residential displacement” compared to a minimum of 10 homes on the corporate boundary route. The Jim Ring route also has fewer buildings within 500 feet of the proposed roadway compared to other route options.

Yet residents, many of them unaffected by either route proposal, spoke out against the Jim Ring option on which the MDOT and federal agencies appear to have narrowed their collective focus. At a May meeting in Augusta, the MDOT recommended to federal regulatory agencies that have the final say on the roadway that the so-called Jim Ring route be the only one considered for further study.

“The word from Augusta is that it’s done and over. Well, not so,” said Holden resident Jackie Smallwood in a telephone interview. “This town is not ready to quit.”

Smallwood said townspeople, “pleaded with the council last night to carry forth the town’s wishes and not to buckle to politics and the easy way out.”

For the past 21/2 years, a public advisory committee and officials from the MDOT have struggled with more than 80 route proposals, with Holden weighing in with strong opinions since the community sees itself as the area most affected by a cross-country connector route.

People in Brewer and Eddington have written letters supporting the Jim Ring option but many Holden residents believe the route would bisect their community, a negative feature, and come too close to some residences. In general, they said, the proposed route would destroy the rural flavor of the town.

The Jim Ring route “flies in the face of the town’s comprehensive plan,” said resident Benjie Grant. According to Grant, Holden’s planning board has come out against the route option. Efforts to reach the planning board chairman failed on Wednesday.

Dick Oravetz, a Holden resident, said the town officially wrote to the MDOT a while ago saying it would not approve any route that went diagonally through the town. This ostensibly included a group of route options called the “3” routes.

According to Oravetz and others, the Jim Ring route incorporates a lot of the “3” route concepts in its plan, including impacts on wetlands and environmental wildlife areas.

He claims the town was “blindsided” by the aggressive way the route was proposed, supported and almost immediately endorsed by the MDOT last spring.

Smallwood has a stronger opinion. “It [the Jim Ring route] was shoved down our throats,” she said on Wednesday.

Efforts to reach Ring in Bangor were unsuccessful.

The Town Council plans to hold another public meeting to discuss concerns with the Jim Ring route. Though initially planned for next week, officials were told the desired meeting place was not available on that date. Making an adjustment to early plans, it now appears the meeting will take place at 6 p.m. July 23 at the Holden Elementary School.