Maine voters on Tuesday solidly approved a $29.7 million bond issue for transportation and environmental projects.

As of 12:05 a.m. Wednesday, the vote was 79,805 to 56,683 in favor of the bond, with 80 percent of precincts in the state reporting.

The referendum, designed to generate nearly $60 million in state and federal money, was the third and final piece of a package of general obligation bond proposals approved by the Legislature last year. Both of the two previous bond packages also passed with broad public support.

Tuesday’s referendum authorizes Maine’s treasurer to borrow $29.7 million by issuing general obligation bonds, which will be paid off with interest over a period not to exceed 10 years. The bond issue will also leverage $29.8 million in federal funds.

More than one-third of the combined bond and federal matching money, about $23 million, is earmarked for transportation projects.

The statewide capital highway and bridge program, which pays for highway reconstruction and bridge rehabilitation or replacement, is slated to receive $10 million from the sale of the bonds.

State transportation officials estimate that, at current funding levels, Maine is facing a $2 billion to $3 billion backlog in road and bridge maintenance projects over the next decade.

Voter support Tuesday for Question 1 was similar to that of last June’s $131 million transportation bond, which passed by more than 2-to-1.

About $10 million of the transportation portion of the bond will be used for critical projects and repairs, while the remainder will finance a variety of mass-transit programs.

The rest of the bond will be used for environmental projects.

Maine’s Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife is slated to receive $2 million to upgrade wastewater treatment systems at several of the state’s fish hatcheries. However, the money will cover only part of the required upgrades.

The facilities have several years to meet Department of Environmental Protection standards governing phosphorus and suspended solid levels in water discharged from the hatcheries. The upgrades will allow DIF&W to continue and possibly expand its fish stocking activities.

“We appreciate that voters have recognized the importance of the work conducted at our fish hatcheries and that they believe the upgrade of the hatcheries’ wastewater discharge systems is important to the environment and the fish and wildlife [that] live in Maine’s outdoors,” DIF&W Commissioner Roland “Dan” Martin said Tuesday night.

Money also is earmarked for upgrades to the state’s air quality monitoring equipment and a grant program to help communities replace malfunctioning septic systems that threaten water supplies.

“It’s going to allow us to continue to support a program for replacing failing septic systems, which is very important,” DEP spokesman Scott Cowger said Tuesday night. “It allows people who can’t afford to, to replace failing systems that are polluting waters of the state. It’s rewarding to see that people recognize that there’s an importance to protecting our surface water resources in Maine.”

In addition, the DEP also will receive $2 million to clean up hazardous waste sites, including the Eastern Woolen site in Corinna, the Rolnick site in Brewer and a waste oil site in Presque Isle.

Those funds will leverage $3 million in federal money, Cowger said.

The bond also addresses problems at now-closed municipal landfills.

“We still have a long way to go to clean up both our hazardous waste sites and our abandoned landfills, but it’s nice that Maine people know that we need to make continuing progress in that area,” Cowger said.

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