YES ON QUESTION 2

“Do you favor a $33,100,000 bond issue for improvements to highways and bridges; airports; public transit improvements; state-owned ferry vessels and ferry and port facilities including port and harbor structures; and statewide bicycle trail and pedestrian improvements that makes the State eligible for over $158,000,000 in matching funds?”

It is no secret that many of Maine’s roads are in bad shape. This bond will help with some large projects and many more small ones while also creating jobs that will help local economies. Because it is small to begin with and one project – the Waldo-Hancock Bridge – will use a third of its funds, this bond will do little to reduce the backlog of highways and bridges in need of repairs and upgrades. And the borrowed money will be used for patching pavement and repairing guardrails, necessary but predictable work that should be funded with state appropriations when state highway funds are insufficient.

Voters, however, must decide on the question in front of them and this bond should be supported. According to an analysis released last month by a national transportation group, nearly one-third of Maine’s roads are in poor or mediocre condition and 27 percent do not meet current design standards. The situation for bridges is worse, according to TRIP, a Washington-based highway advocacy group.

Question 2 contains $12 million to help rebuild the Waldo-Hancock Bridge on Route. This money will bring in $44 million in matching funds from the federal government. Another $15 million – to be matched by up to $60 million in federal funds – will be used for highway and bridge projects across the state. Hundreds of projects are eligible for this funding ranging from culvert replacements to highway paving to building new bridges.

Another $1.75 million will help buy a new ferry to serve Vinalhaven and $250,000 will be used to upgrade the Casco Bay Island Transit District fleet. The Small Harbor Improvement Program will receive $1.5 million to improve piers, boat ramps and bulkheads to help the commercial fishing and tourism industries.

The bond also includes $500,000 for communities to purchase new buses. For the first time, such purchases will be coordinated statewide to allow for bulk purchases, which saves money. Another $400,000 would go toward bicycle and pedestrian path improvements.

For aviation, $1.7 million would go towards improving airport infrastructure, such as reconstructing a runway at the Northern Maine Regional Airport in Presque Isle.

All these projects will help the economy by improving transportation and, more directly, by creating more than 5,000 jobs.