BREWER – The public process to determine the best possible connector route to link Interstate 395 with Route 9 and ease heavy truck traffic between the Canadian Maritime provinces and the federal highway system is again under way.

Raymond Faucher, project manager for the state Department of Transportation, was in town Thursday to give city officials an update on where the project stands, and how the five route proposals would affect the city.

One route cuts through the east side of Brewer, two skirt the Brewer-Holden line – one on the Brewer side and the other on the Holden side – and the remaining two cut through the center of Holden.

There is also a “no-build” alternative.

The state is looking for public comment on the project and is re-forming public advisory committees that worked for years to find the best route from about 70 originally proposed. A new scoping meeting is planned for this spring, Faucher said.

Brewer officials at Thursday’s meeting expressed concerns about development in the areas where the routes are proposed, and where the traffic would flow if and when the connector is constructed.

“Regardless of where this goes, I think it has a huge economic development impact,” said D’arcy Main-Boyington, economic development director.

One of the five routes, which lies mostly in Brewer, may be removed from the list this spring, Faucher said.

“There are a couple locations that have been identified as sensitive areas by native Americans of the Penobscot Nation,” he said. “We need to verify that,” which will occur in the next couple of months.

If the areas are determined to be of archaeological significance, they could be eliminated from the list, he said. If they are burial grounds, they must be avoided.

The funding for the study is in place, but money for construction and acquiring rights of way has not been allocated, Faucher said, adding that it is a possibility the connector could be constructed in segments.

“If you have approvals and have a design, you stand a better chance for those discretional funds,” Bangor City Engineer Jim Ring said Thursday. “This is a project of regional significance.”

Ring actually designed one route under consideration, which ended up being the preferred route for the DOT.

The discussion about connection routes was initiated in 1996 when a group of Holden residents who live on Route 46 became concerned about the doubling of traffic in their front yards and asked that other routes be discussed.

Until the final route is determined, “Brewer wants to remain at the table,” City Manager Steve Bost said to end the meeting.

nricker@bangordailynews.net

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