HOLDEN – The Maine Department of Transportation has hit another bump in the road for its planned connector route to link Interstate 395 with Route 9 and ease traffic between Canadian Maritime Provinces and the federal highway system.

Federal Highway Administration officials informed the DOT late last week that a full environmental impact study of the $40 million connector route is needed, Transportation Commissioner David Cole said at Monday’s Holden Town Council meeting.

After Cole announced the connector route’s new problem, town councilors and residents were allowed to give comments and ask questions, of which there were plenty.

“We’re not starting over – I want to make that clear,” Cole said. “We’re 80 to 90 percent done. We’ll be building upon what’s been done.”

The Maine DOT submitted an environmental assessment several months ago that compares its preferred route, 3EIK-2, and a no-build alternative. After reviewing the environmental assessment, which the DOT started in 2000, the highway administration asked for revisions. It is this inch-thick document that will be retooled, Cole said.

The 3EIK-2 route would extend I-395 by almost two miles along the southern side of U.S. Route 1A in Holden before turning northward, crossing Route 1A and winding through mostly unpopulated areas before circumventing East Eddington and reconnecting to Route 9 at the Clifton town line.

Creating the environmental impact study is expected to add a year to the project’s timeline, Raymond Faucher, DOT project manager, told the gathering of approximately 40 residents from Holden, Eddington and Brewer.

The study will include potential impacts to wetlands, wildlife and habitats, including “mitigation for the 40-plus acres of wetland impacted by the preferred route,” Faucher said.

All five town councilors asked questions mostly concerning displaced businesses and residents, access to the new roadway, and if other alternative routes, eliminated years ago, would be reconsidered.

The 3EIK-2 route was identified as the DOT’s preferred route in 2003 after years of reviewing numerous possibilities, Faucher said.

“During the course of this study, we’ve evaluated 70 some alternatives,” he said, then added that 3EIK-2 had the least amount of residential displacements compared to the other alternatives considered.

“My concern is the loss of two businesses,” Councilor Robert Harvey said.

Councilors Clare Payne and Ellen Campbell both asked if a planned 400-unit housing development on Mann Hill Road would have access to the connector. Faucher said access is not planned, but added the DOT would be willing to talk with the subdivision developer.

Several residents questioned if Holden would remain a rural community if the connector were built, and others said without increased weight limits for the federal highway system, the connector was useless.

“The town is very conflicted,” Sally Fischel of Holden said after the meeting.

Before the project can go forward, the federal highway administration, which would pay for most of the construction costs, needs to give its nod of approval.

“We are in this for the long haul,” Cole said. “We will do this right.”