As a rule, people tend to focus on the destination rather than the journey. For most of us, we get in our cars, often several times a day – to go to work, deliver goods and services to customers, and to get to the store, the dry cleaner, school or wherever we need to go. We generally don’t spend much time thinking about the roads we travel on.

Earlier this year, that changed for area businesses and the city of Ellsworth when the Maine Department of Transportation announced that the Graham Lake Bridge on Route 180 was no longer safe for heavy loads. The bridge was posted for only a short while, because Maine DOT was able to put a temporary bridge in place. But during that time, our residents, businesses and town leaders began to understand just how difficult our everyday journeys are going to be if we don’t soon find a way to fix the hundreds of Maine bridges and thousands of miles of highway that are falling into greater disrepair every day.

For my part, I started thinking about the bigger “journey.” What does it mean for the Ellsworth region economy – and the economy of Maine at large when Maine DOT has to post a road or a bridge? As it turns out, Graham Lake is just one of 288 bridges that are in trouble in Maine, according to Maine DOT. Sixty-nine of those bridges have already been closed or posted. Ellsworth has two bridges on the watch list, Bangor has four, and Bar Harbor has one. Hundreds of communities like ours – and every region of the state stands to be affected.

It’s not just bridges that are in trouble. The “2007 Measures of Growth” list of economic benchmarks recently released by the Maine Economic Growth Council found that “Maine’s roadways are in considerably worse condition than the rest of the region” and gave the new indicator a red flag.

Bad roads and bridges have a cascading effect on the journeys we make every day. They cost everyone more in vehicle maintenance costs ($282 a year according to the nonprofit The Road Information Program). Bad roads and bridges create $1 billion in costs to all Mainers from property damage, lost earnings, lost household production, medical costs, emergency services, travel delay, vocational rehabilitation, workplace costs, administrative, legal, and pain and lost quality of life, according to the Federal Highway Administration. They also cost our businesses immeasurably in vehicle maintenance, lost time and opportunity.

We have to do something to make our highways and bridges safer and more efficient, and we have to do it now, as the system has become worse in the last few years. In addition to being critical for commerce, our deteriorating roads and bridges are becoming a public safety hazard. That’s why the Ellsworth Area Chamber of Commerce is working with many other organizations across the state to ask our legislators to work on a solution. We want them to make safe highways and bridges a priority, because there is so much at stake.

We need to dramatically step up our investment in transportation because in addition to the bridge problem, 40 percent – or 3,300 miles – of the state’s most important roads have not been rehabilitated in 50 years. This is unacceptable. We appreciate that Sen. Dennis Damon is working on a plan and are anxious to see what the administration develops as well. Graham Lake Bridge is just the beginning of what promises to be a bumpy ride for Maine’s economy and quality of life. We need to make investment in our transportation infrastructure a priority. And we need to do it now, before the journey becomes too long and too costly – not just for the businesses and individuals I work with every day in Down East Maine, but for all of Maine.

Micki Sumpter is the executive director of the Ellsworth Area Chamber of Commerce.