AUGUSTA, Maine — State transportation officials issued a statement Friday in response to local reaction to the drastic change of plans for the proposed I395/Route 9 connector project.
In an article published by the Bangor Daily News this week, officials from Eddington and Brewer said they were caught flatfooted by the Maine Department of Transportation’s plan to eliminate the route chosen in 2003. MDOT now supports a different route than Holden residents favored.
Holden’s town planner learned about the change through MaineDOT’s website and provided other local officials an informal update. The new route would extend I-395 at its Wilson Street junction and would roughly follow the Holden-Brewer line until entering Eddington and connecting to Route 9. The previous route cut through the mostly unpopulated center of Holden.
The state said concerns about environmental impact led to the change.
In a statement emailed to the Bangor Daily News on Friday by MDOT spokesman Ted Talbot, the department apologized for inadequate outreach to leaders in municipalities that would be affected by the connector, which aims to alleviate heavy traffic flow between the Canadian Maritime Provinces and the federal highway system.
“The Maine Department of Transportation … regrets the insufficient outreach by MaineDOT to leaders of the affected communities along the proposed I-395 US Route 9 connecter,” the statement read. “Town officials and the residents of Brewer, Holden, Eddington and Clifton deserve to be fully informed of all decisions and progress. We recognize that it is our obligation to do so, and we will rectify this situation in the future.
“While no decisions have been made regarding whether or how to proceed with the Study, MaineDOT will continue to focus on options that we can permit, build and afford with the least amount of overall environmental and community impacts,” the statement added.
“In the coming weeks, MaineDOT officials will refocus on the public process in which residents will have ongoing opportunities to provide feedback including review of the draft environmental impact statement and public hearing(s) as needed. We look forward to hearing from all interested parties,” the statement concluded.
I hope Lane Const gets the job. They need to go out an PAVE in MILO!!
So are these same the people that would be in charge of building your highway
from somewhere in the east to somewhere in the west, Governah ?
today terrible ted talbot told tall titillating tales …………………………
titillating, i like that.
More incompetent government from the GOP / Tea Party and the Bully in Chief.
yessah
and baldarchie was better? or any body else? tell me, show me, we’ve already seen your way.
look were that has got us.
When LePage came in, many of the most experienced workers in state government were driven out. His appointees rearranged management structures, putting less qualified and completely unqualified people in charge of programs, and these appointees shuffed (and are still shuffling) responsibilities in ways that prevent or inhibit staffers from doing things they way they know they need to be done. These “reorganizations” are touted in the news as improving efficiency and reducing cost, but what they really do – as you can see by this article – is put responsibility on someone who doesn’t even know they are supposed to do anything. This is exactly the same thing that happened with the DEP and Flagstaff Lake last week. Political appointees have huge amounts of power in the way state government works, and absolutely no knowledge of the purpose of the agency they are in charge of. All they can see is dollar signs. Their big-industry buddies want something, and the hacks find a way to get it for them, and blame the workers for it. “Here’s the job you’re supposed to do, and to do it you’ll need a whole bunch of information. Well, you can’t have the information, and you can’t have any help. So make sure you have it done by five o’clock or you’re fired.” No wonder there’s a line at the door of people retiring and quitting out of state government. All the tea party we-don’t-want-no-damn-government-at-all types are celebrating like this is a great thing, but you’re starting to see the results now. Wait until the road in front of your house washes away and doesn’t get fixed for six months because no one knows how to get the process started.
Really Earthling, are you an insider? Where do you get all of this information, MSNBC?
It doesn’t take a genius to see what is going on. If you can forget about political ideology and look at the work the Departments have to do from the standpoint of the people trying to do the work, it becomes pretty obvious.
“and baldarchie was better? ….”
There is the famous conservative “okay, but we are not all that much worse then the good for nothing, evil, liberals” argument.
It is worth of note, so I make note of it whenever I see it.
Your post is complete BS. These are careerists at the DOT not political appointees. Get a clue.
True, which explains why THEY unlike our current political “Leaders” have enough class to apologize for making clear errors in statement or deed.
Class? They got caught with their hand in the cookie jar. They didn’t have much choice.
You’re either not getting my point or are simply avoiding it. Mr. LePage’s latest expample of dishonesty of deed was exposed by Forbes to be without a doubt lying to Mainers about how welfare and energy cost effect our economic standing compared to other states. Did you hear an apology? Nope. Have you heard Mr. LePage ever apologize for any of the “Silly” or dishonest things he’s said? Nope, because he has no class.
That was a classic “he said, she said” moment. The guy from Forbes could have been lying but he said what you wanted to hear so it was nothing but truth, right?
The lengths you folks are willing to go to DEFLECT from the truth is amazing. Yeah, you know I bet the folks at Forbes (Who are exceedingly conservative) and don’t stand to make a nickel by exposing a fellow conservative as a liar would put this lie forward about poor Mr. LePage so that they can…..what? That’s right, they have no reason to lie. Mr. LePage on the other hand has every reason to lie because his lies support his convoluted contentions that Maine’s current economic standing is the result of (Among other things) Mainers who are poor or high energy cost. He got caught lying then ran to hide in the closet with the Labor Mural hoping that folks like you would come to his defense. Sorry Paul, you can’t stay in the closet forever. Come out, come out wherever you are!
Thank you for proving that because he said what you wanted to hear, it must be true.
You can interpret that story how you want just like Lepage interpreted what Forbes told him.
another disgruntled loser.
I’m assuming that since I’ve “Lost” nothing you must be making a personal attack upon me as a fellow commenter. Sad. You may not have much of interest to say here but I’ll certainly give you credit for being consistent with many other conservative commentary I see here every day. Here you’ve hit the trifecta of bad commentary: Limited, negative, and deflective personal attack. Way to go!
” CLASS ” ???????????? Huhhhh !!
DOT has class ?
How bout the Maine Turnpike Authority ???
Class act, no ??
Who else ??
DHHS ?? Class ???
Wake up Relaxin !!
I didn’t suggest that the DOT had class in abundance. They are after all just common everyday people, neighbors, and friends. A person not looking to twist my words would acknowledge that I stated that the folks at the DOT “Have enough class to apologize.” That is after all a positive behavior that we know (Because they fail to do so when most folks know they should) some individuals seem incapable of replicating. Agreed?
Perhaps it’s time for you to take a nap!! Things become much less confusing when you’re well rested.
I didn’t miss your point. You said the folks at the DOT have ‘class’, as opposed to the current administration. ‘Class’ is not the term I’d use when referring to the DOT ‘forgetting’ to tell the municipalities involved, and then apologizing after the uproar over not telling. You used this as a platform to talk about your distaste for Le Page. I don’t know of too many politicians on either side of the aisle who apologize unless they get caught. Le Page probably doesn’t think he has anything to apologize for; hence, no apology.
“I don’t know of too many politicians on either side of the aisle who apologize unless they get caught.” Thank you for supporting my point. Mr. LePage got caught and still no apology. If he or anyone doesn’t think his undeniable lie about Forbes was a bad thing to do and deserving of an public apology then we’re all in real trouble here. Fortunately I think most folks understand the truth and will provide Mr. LePage the appropriate consequences when the opportunity arises. First chance will be next November, vote accordingly.
It’s early in 2012 but you just won the award for most ignorant post of 2012. Congratulations.
Think a little about how many like you have at 12:15 versus the likes for the comment by countryguy2010. Please stop your knee-jerk reaction to normal government meddling and THINK a little bit, it will make you a more thoughtful, considered person. The really big screw up by DOT is the Wiscasset bypass, not this little crawl through the woods. Why don’t they just adjust the power line and follow that, as someone earlier suggested? Everyone would benefit. In Wiscasset they weren’t fighting the homeowners but one single eagle nest. Dumb and dumber.
“MaineDOT apologizes…” What is this? MDOT operating in a vacuum? Unexcusable!!
….. “we will rectify this situation in the future”….MDOT is all talk…who is in charge of public input at MDOT….they should be gone, they certainly know better. It just shows the lack of concern the State has for taxpayers properties and what they think.
Don’t we have a budget problem? Why does this need to be done now? We can’t afford the roads that exist currently.
It is time to move forward. We have talked enough. In my opinion it is the best route. We need to stop talking and start doing.
Some mid-level planner or IT guy in Augusta is having a bad week. I’m guessing that this was never intended to be posted.
I (I assume the only one) am glad they had the guts to revise their plan to reduce environmental impact. The state requires plans to be reviewed for impact and feds also deem it mandatory.
I would like to know if anyone has found an eagle’s nest yet??
Impact the environment or take peoples personal property, that is an easy one for the state! This will be a hot one before it is done…..
So they will do public hearing. Someone will get upset about the new path going through their property, and it will be another 10 years before we see any construction happen.
I agree with DukeinOrrington, are we not in dept? Shouldn’t we spend the time, money and effort to fix the roads that are already here before building new ones. They say we don’t have enough money to fix the roads, so we have enough to build a new one??? I bet if we put all the money that has gone towards planning so far and the amount they are planning on putting into it, we could have some real improvements made to what had already been built, rather than dump a bunch of money into a new road and completely neglect the fact that the ones already existing are pretty much falling apart.
I don’t know why the bothered to apologize for this, as it has been clear for a long time now that they don’t care what the public thinks about anything.
IDIOTS…FIRE THE BLOWHARDS