We’ve been down this road before, figuratively, and more to the point, literally. Both the subject and the road are deteriorating.

It’s called a National Scenic Byway now, the entrance to which is marked by a $10,000 granite stone and turnoff bearing that designation. The byway begins at the Taunton River Bridge between Hancock and Sullivan and wends its way Down East until it breaks off south into Gouldsboro and Winter Harbor via Route 186.

It also leads motorists into the Schoodic section of Acadia National Park, where park officials appear delighted that the Scenic Byway promoters and planners have secured more than $1 million in federal funds to complete kiosks, bikeways, visitor information centers and scenic lookouts.

All that is lacking in this attractive vision is the road itself, and that’s where the state of Maine comes into the scenario. In many sections of Route 1 or Route 186, the roadway is hardly a highly touted byway but more like a reality from “Tobacco Road.”

Maine Department of Transportation folks have promised for several years to reconstruct the stretch of Route 1 from the Taunton bridge to Sumner Memorial High School. We may even see that happen before the shocks on our vehicles wear out, the tires blow out, and the wheel alignments throw out.

We may live to see guardrails where coastal waters lap the road; we may even witness the appearance of road shoulders and the disappearance of hazardous potholes. For now, though, the completion of the project seems doubtful as the ebbing and flowing of state highway funding seems to flow in southern Maine and ebb in the Down East region.

Case in point: Route 186 has won partial funding but not nearly enough to get the job done. In a piece-meal approach, the MDOT plans are to rebuild whatever is left of “a road” through South Gouldsboro but somehow yanked the funding for the West Gouldsboro section.

This has caused a stir around these parts where residents are being asked to lobby for restoration of funding by writing everyone from Gov. John Baldacci to MDOT Commissioner David Cole, from state Rep. Earl Bierman to state Sen. Dennis Damon.

Perhaps the pressure is paying off. At least, crews were out last week patching more holes in the battered roadway, slapping tar where frost heaves have split the pavement and repairing ditches washed away by heavy rains.

But we can’t help but wonder if Commissioner Cole has traveled our National Scenic Byway. We know Willie Nelson hasn’t or he would never have sung, “Road again; just can’t wait to get on the road again.”

While the state is bragging about its new electronic toll collection system along the Maine Turnpike, motorists around here aren’t asking for an E-Z Pass to speed our way through tollbooths.

We just want an easy pass to and from home.