Mainers look kindly on projects that move us
Voters have endorsed all 13 transportation bonds that have appeared on ballots since 1987.
By TUX TURKEL Staff Writer
October 22, 2009
A LifeFlight helicopter is shown at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor. Money from a proposed transportation bond would fund weather and mapping equipment to allow emergency landings in rural areas and on coastal islands.
Life Flight of Maine
Seconds count when a call comes for LifeFlight of Maine, the statewide medical helicopter service. But if an emergency happens on a foggy day in Casco Bay, the pilot may not have adequate visibility to land safely on, say, Chebeague Island.
That could change next year, if LifeFlight gets money to install an automated weather station and develop a GPS approach map for communities like Chebeague. The nonprofit organization wants to expand those advanced technologies to many of the island communities, rural towns and hospitals it serves.
LifeFlight's $1 million request is part of a transportation package that would direct the state to borrow $71.25 million for a range of highway, bridge, rail, port and aviation projects.
The $71.25 million would attract $148 million in federal, local and private money, generating $219 million for transportation projects and saving or creating 4,600 jobs, supporters say.
Mainers have endorsed all 13 transportation bonds put on the ballot since 1987. This year's request is a scaled-down version of what Gov. John Baldacci and some legislative leaders sought for transportation upgrades.
Question 6 reflects political reality. Maine has aging infrastructure, but it is saddled with budget troubles and is home to an edgy electorate that will consider ballot measures to limit taxes and government spending.
The transportation bond doesn't have any organized opposition. But supporters worry that highways and bridges may suffer from "a spillover effect" from Question 4, the proposal for spending caps that advocates call the Taxpayer Bill of Rights.
The largest chunk, $55 million, would go into the Maine Department of Transportation's budget for highway and bridge work. Smaller amounts would go to terminal and dredging work in Eastport and Searsport, and rebuilding a bulkhead at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute in Portland.
Airports would get money for runway and safety work, in addition to the LifeFlight projects.
The bond also would earmark $1 million for maintenance for the Maine State Ferry Service in the Penobscot Bay region.
Railroads would get a total of $4 million in grants and capital upgrades for publicly owned rail and industrial facilities, and money for planning in the new Critical Rail Corridor Program. The program aims to increase freight use and reduce wear and tear on highways. That outlay would be matched by $3 million in private money.
In some respects, the bond would pick up where the well-publicized federal stimulus money has left off. Maine received $137 million this year for bridge and highway improvements, and most of that work is done or wrapping up, said Maria Fuentes, executive director of the Maine Better Roads Association, a transportation advocacy group.
"I hope people don't think that took care of the problem," she said. "That money is all gone."
The Maine Department of Transportation has proposed spending $637 million for a two-year bridge and highway program. That program has been cut repeatedly in recent years, Fuentes said, so the $55 million from state borrowing and $110 million in federal money are essential for reconstruction, paving and bridge repair.
The matching money may help explain why transportation bonds typically get wide support at the polls. No comprehensive highway bond has failed since 1966, according to the advocacy group.
Records dating back to 1987 show they tend to be approved by a solid majority of voters, although a combined, $29 million transportation/natural resources bond last year won by only a narrow margin. The money, part of a much larger package, was designated for ferries, rail and aviation.
Using $2.6 million from a transportation bond approved in 2003, LifeFlight built hospital helipads and began bringing automated weather stations and GPS approaches to rural airports and hospitals. It transported 1,300 patients last year.
The money in this year's bond would finish 80 percent of the system, said Tom Judge, LifeFlight's executive director. Federal air safety regulators have begun recommending the system for low-level landings.
"Maine has complex weather and rural areas where the weather can rapidly change," he said. "If we're going to be safe and reliable, we need a systemized approach."
The transportation bond would help the state take advantage of economic development opportunities. But when viewed against the needs of the state's cargo handling industries, the investment falls short, said Chop Hardenbergh, editor of Atlantic Northeast Rails & Ports in Yarmouth.
The publication follows activities in eastern Canada and Northeast states.
"In the rest of the country, railroads and ports are booming," said Hardenbergh.
Baldacci and Democratic leaders sought $30.5 million for rail and port improvements, but the request was cut to $9.8 million in the Legislature. Without upgrades, he said, businesses won't locate here and Maine will lose economic development opportunities.
"This is very much short of what's needed," he said, "not just for the projects themselves, but for the state to move forward."
Staff Writer Tux Turkel can be contacted at 791-6462 or at tturkel@pressherald.com
