It’s a familiar standoff: local residents fighting to protect their homes and transportation planners trying to move vehicles safely through Maine. This case involves the Maine Turnpike’s toll plaza in York – Maine’s front gate, generating $35 million in toll revenue annually. The existing plaza, built in 1969 and retrofitted several times, is at the end of the line for improvements, Turnpike Authority officials say. To succeed with this project, as it should, the authority must work to seriously consider local concerns while maintaining a focus on its broader mission. That balancing act means it must be open to modifying its plans for the new toll plaza.

Plans for the new facility have incited strong opposition in York County and put on the defensive the Turnpike Authority, a quasi-governmental agency able to raise its own funds, as it tries to maintain transparency in a process that could result in the seizing of as many as eight homes.

The deficiencies at the York toll plaza include its location on a former wetland, which is blamed for the facility sinking a couple of inches each year. Traffic volume has tripled since it was built and new technology, such as “highway speed tolling,” does not lend itself to the current facility.

The engineering firm working on the project for the Turnpike Authority identified 16 possible sites for the new toll plaza from Kittery to Wells, then narrowed that list to four sites. Locals then urged planners to reconsider building the new plaza at the current site, and that option is being studied. A report from that inquiry will be presented to the Turnpike Authority board in August or September.

The toll plaza replacement, at an estimated cost of $35 million, suggests further scrutiny and some degree of skepticism is in order, especially given that earlier this month Maine voters approved borrowing less – $23 million – to allow DOT to catch up on needed road and bridge work throughout the state.

Authority spokesman Dan Paradee explains the cost is tied to a design that allows vehicles using E-ZPass to remain on the highway, traveling at speeds of 65 mph. Overhead scanning equipment registers the vehicles passing through. Drivers who want to pay the toll in cash will exit the highway and drive up to a traditional bank of booths, then merge back onto the highway. Half the passenger vehicles passing through the York plaza now use E-ZPass, along with 80 percent of the trucks, he said.

Given the tightness of highway funds and the large portion of tolls paid by out-of-state visitors, the Turnpike Authority’s solvency is an asset to Maine. Building a new safe and efficient gateway into the state, which also pays the bills, should be within reach.