With 3,000 pages of spending, the federal omnibus spending bill for 2005 will require weeks to untangle and see where its $388 billion went, but it is already clear where it didn’t: Maine fared poorly with transportation. A second chance, with reauthorization of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21), will arise this winter, and the Maine delegation must make the case that it is crucial to include projects cut from the appropriation bill.

Maine, for instance, had asked for $10 million in the omnibus for funding the Waldo-Hancock Bridge; it received just $1 million. Worse, it requested $10 million for the international bridge in Calais, an essential link to Canada and an important part of Washington County’s future, but appropriators set aside no money at all for the project.

Calais did receive $3.3 million for design and acquisition of property for its new border-crossing station, which was helpful, but without the bridge, there is not much point in building the nearby border facility. Given that the Maine delegation had placed Calais (and Waldo-Hancock) at the top of its priority list, the lack of funding was disappointing.

Disappointing, but also a reason to get moving. The money for the border-crossing station strengthens the argument for funding the work on the bridge. Calais is the eighth-busiest border crossing in the United States, yet tourist traffic backs up regularly on the two-lane bridge, imperiling the smooth security operation and hurting commerce.

The city and neighboring St. Stephen, New Brunswick, have for decades tried to get their federal governments to improve traffic in the region. After lengthy debate made more complicated by an ineffective state government threatening the project from the sidelines, the actual planning process for the bridge began in 1998, with the expectation that construction would soon follow.

St. Stephen has had the greater success, with more than $100 million pledged for the work. Calais and Maine – because the benefit would be felt by a broad region – are still waiting for Washington to commit serious funding. How long Calais can wait before waiting no longer matters should be on the minds of Maine’s political leaders.

The current highway act has been extended until May 31, 2005, by which time TEA-21 should be approved. The bill goes through the friendlier process of the Environment and Public Works Committee in the Senate and Transportation and Infrastructure in the House, where, typically, members of Congress have more input into what gets funded in their districts. It’s a shame members of those committees can’t stop by Down East Maine to see how badly it needs the proposed bridge.

Congress doesn’t have time for that and Maine doesn’t have time to lament its showing in the transportation appropriation; it has plenty of work to do to make certain the badly needed money arrives in the next round of funding.