AUGUSTA – The Department of Transportation’s two-year plan for rebuilding and repairing Maine’s roads and bridges, released to the Legislature on Monday, calls for an investment of $623 million.

Though that figure tops the previous two-year work plan, it fails to provide enough funding to allow the DOT to catch up on all $200 million in projects deferred over the last few years.

In his message to legislators included with the plan, Transportation Commissioner David Cole noted that “average construction costs in Maine increased an astonishing 35 percent” from the 2004-2005 plan to the 2006-2007 plan. In addition to facing a smaller bang for its buck because of spiking construction costs, the DOT is also challenged by dwindling and inconsistently released federal funds.

In response, the plan for the budget years that run July 1, 2007, to June 30, 2009, is based on a cash-flow model, Cole noted, rather than a simple commitment by the state to complete a certain amount of road and bridge work.

“The essential difference is that project schedules … will be more constrained by when projected cash resources actually become available,” Cole wrote. With Maine’s short road construction season, work relying on federal funding that doesn’t become available in time could be canceled or deferred.

Funding for the two-year plan also counts on passage of a $133 million state transportation bond that goes before voters in June.

In total, the DOT’s two-year plan calls for investing $815 million to improve all modes of transportation managed by the state. The state also maintains seven ferry vessels, 36 airports, three major ports and 25 percent of 1,200 miles of rail.

Of that amount $623 million will be spent on highways and bridges. The DOT is responsible for 8,400 miles of highways, of which 20 percent is in need of reconstruction, according to the plan. The DOT also maintains 2,964 bridges, 45 percent of which are 50 years old or older.

Almost 20 percent of the highway and bridge projects in the plan were deferred over the last several years when costs skyrocketed.

The projects listed in the plan were selected over the last year. Selection criteria included information gathered from municipal officials and following analysis of the work in relation to safety issues and to each project’s role in preserving existing transportation systems.

DOT officials have said bridges, which have a life span of about 80 years, have been a priority because if they have to be posted or closed, they affect entire transportation corridors.

“The work plan does not address all of Maine’s transportation challenges. In fact, [the] plan does not fully address system preservation needs or … fund all of the deferred projects,” according to the summary.

“It does represent DOT’s plan to use all available resources to achieve the greatest statewide benefit possible. It also leverages just over $546 million federal, municipal and private resources,” the summary states.

In a statement released late Monday, Cole said, “We’re putting out what’s basically a ‘custodial’ work plan, with the focus on bridges and paving so we can take care of what we have.”

According to the DOT, the number of miles of highway reconstruction planned for 2008-2009 is actually 4 percent fewer than in the 2006-2007 plan.

Among the projects – including crack sealing, repaving, reconstruction, culvert work and some intersection work – listed in the report are:

. Aroostook County – road improvements to portions of: Route 163 and Route 227 in Ashland; Route 1 and Route 164 in Caribou; Route 1 in Van Buren, Fort Kent and Frenchville; Route 1A in Easton, Fort Fairfield and Limestone; Route 2 and Route 2A in Houlton; Route 1 and Route 205 in Presque Isle; and bridge replacement in New Sweden and Oakfield.

. Hancock County – road improvements to portions of: Route 9 in Amherst; Route 3 and Park Loop Road in Bar Harbor; Route 172, Route 15 and Mines Road in Blue Hill; Main Street in Bucksport; Route 180 in Ellsworth; Route 182 in Franklin and Hancock; new bus stops in Acadia National Park in Bar Harbor; construction of a shared-used bicycle-pedestrian path and signal improvements on Route 1A in Ellsworth.

. Knox County – road improvements to portions of: Route 1 in Camden, Thomaston and Rockland; Route 52 in Camden; Route 235 in Hope; Route 220 in Washington; intersection improvement on Broadway and installation of a driver-activated “speed too fast for curve” on Old County Road in Rockland; airport surface reconstruction work at Knox County Regional Airport in Owls Head; rail-highway crossing improvements in Thomaston.

. Penobscot County – road improvements to portions of: Route 2 in Carmel, Lincoln, Mattawamkeag, Newport, Orono and Veazie; Interstate 95, Main Street, Stillwater Avenue, Broadway, Hogan Road and Route 221 in Bangor; Route 155 in Bradford; South Main Street in Brewer; Route 15 in Charleston; Route 9 in Clifton, Amherst and Aurora; Route 116 in Chester and Woodville; Route 46 in Eddington and Holden; Route 6 in Enfield; Route 7 in Dexter; Route 202 in Hampden and Bangor; Route 6 in Lee and Springfield; Route 157 in Medway; Route 11 in Mount Chase and Patten; bus purchases for public transit in Bangor; lighting improvements to portions of Route 395 in Bangor and Brewer; signal and intersection improvements on Route 1A and Hogan Road in Bangor; bridge replacement on Route 2-100 and Essex Street in Bangor; snow removal equipment, rehabilitation of terminal apron and modification of access road at Bangor International Airport.

. Piscataquis County – road improvements to portions of: Lily Bay Road in Greenville and Beaver Cove; Route 23 in Dexter and Sangerville; Douty Hill Road in Dover-Foxcroft and Sangerville; Main Street and Elm Street in Milo; Route 6 and Water Street in Guilford; rehabilitation of a runway at Greenville Municipal Airport.

. Somserset County – road improvements to portions of: Route 8 in Anson, Embden and Norridgewock; Route 43 in Anson, Starks, Cornville and Madison; Route 2 and Route 23 in Canaan; Route 104 in Fairfield and Skowhegan; Route 6 in Jackman.

. Waldo County – road improvements to portions of: Route 52 in Lincolnville, Northport and Belfast; Route 1 in Belfast, Searsport, Lincolnville and Northport; Route 3 in Belfast, Belmont, Searsmont, Montville, Liberty and Palermo; Route 139 in Brooks; Route 235 in Lincolnville; Route 137 in Knox and Freedom; traffic calming measures in Winterport.

. Washington County – road improvements to portions of: Route 1A in Harrington; Route 1 in Baileyville, Calais, Columbia Falls, Harrington, Dennysville, Edmunds Township, East Machias, Machias, Whiting, Perry, Robbinston, Steuben and Whitneyville; Route 191 in Cooper and Meddybemps; Route 190 in Eastport; Cooper Road in Alexander and Cooper; bridge replacements on Route 1A in Milbridge.

Click It A link to the entire DOT report can be found on bangordailynews.com