AUGUSTA – Mainers are bracing for the start of pothole season, and, if a new national survey is correct, drivers might want to grip the steering wheel a little tighter. Maine has slipped from 12th in the nation to 18th in an annual study of how well states are maintaining roads and bridges.

“Maine has slipped at bit, but is still doing a pretty good job compared to many states,” said David Hartgen, professor of transportation studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He is the author of the annual study, released last week, of how all the states compare in the management of highway spending to assure adequate roads and bridges.

The annual study tracks the performance of the state-owned roads using 12 indicators. The study looks at states’ revenues, expenditures, pavement and bridge conditions, urban congestion, accident rates, and the number of narrow lanes on major rural roads in developing each state rating. It is based on data submitted to the federal government by the states.

Hartgen, a Maine native, said he was in the state at Christmas visiting his mother in Orono and was able to look at the road system firsthand. He said the secondary roads are showing their age and will be a growing problem in years ahead.

“Maine spends 39 percent of its budget on maintenance, the highest in the country,” he said. “Of course, maintenance is important, but you need to invest in reconstructing roads or you just put off reconstruction that will cost you more in the future. You can patch the roof only so many times before it needs to be rebuilt, and the same is true for roads.”

Maine Transportation Commissioner David Cole said he was aware of the report, but has not had time to read it in detail. He is concerned that the state dropped in its ranking, but he noted it still ranks in the top third of the states.

“You can spend $1 now to preserve an asset, or wait five years and that [cost] becomes $4 or $5,” he said. “But we have limited resources and cannot always do what we would like to do.”

Cole said the top spending priority is for safety issues, and that includes projects like the replacement of the Waldo-Hancock Bridge. He said maintenance of existing assets – roads and bridges – are next and little funds are left every year to reconstruct highways.

“Maine has had a persistent problem with bridges,” Hartgen said. “It spends below the national average and has for years and that will come back to bite you.”

Maine is spending more than $480 million a year on highways and bridges, from a combination of state funds, bonds and federal funds. The state has nearly 8,400 miles of roads to maintain, more than double that of neighboring New Hampshire, and gets about the same amount of federal aid.

“We need to be doing more, but we can’t without additional federal funds,” said state Sen. Christine Savage, R-Union, the senior Republican on the Legislature’s Transportation Committee. “We have had a backlog for years and without additional federal aid, it will get worse because we can’t do more here at the state level.”

Savage was co-chairwoman of the committee when lawmakers passed a law indexing the fuel tax. That measure adjusts the tax rate every year based on inflation. Maine’s gas tax is currently 24.6 cents a gallon, and will rise to 25.2 cents on July 1, providing about $8 million more for projects.

Maine could receive additional federal funds under either the U.S. Senate approved highway bill, which appropriates $318 billion nationally over the next six years, or the House passed measure, that would appropriate $375 billion.

“We didn’t just pick that number out of the air,” said U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud, D-Maine. “We got the figure from the [federal] Department of Transportation based on what they said was needed to invest in our nation’s roads and bridges.”

President Bush wants no more than $256 billion over six years. Hartgen said it’s likely Bush will go a little higher, but doubts he will agree to any total over $300 billion.

“That will make it difficult for all states, not just Maine, to do what is needed for investments in our highways and bridges,” he said.