BREWER, Maine — The proposal that Maine transportation officials recently selected as their new preferred connector route to link Route 9 and Interstate 395 does not meet the state’s own criteria, resident Larry Adams told the City Council on Tuesday.
Adams had downloaded maps and I-395-Route 9 transportation study data from the Maine Department of Transportation’s website concerning the proposed route to ease traffic flow between Canadian Maritime Provinces and the federal highway system.
“Does it pass the study purpose? Well no,” he said. “Does it meet the [U.S.] Army Corps of Engineers purpose? No.”
Adams, who two weeks ago informed Brewer city leaders about the MDOT’s new preferred route, went on to show the state’s data from the last Public Advisory Committee meeting in April 2009 that shows the state’s new preferred route — 2B2 — does not meet the system linkage issue and doesn’t solve traffic congestion. It did past muster for safety concerns, the data show.
The 2B2 route would extend I-395 at its Wilson Street junction and roughly follow the Holden-Brewer line, mostly on the Brewer side, until entering Eddington and connecting with 4.5 miles of rebuilt Route 9. It would not connect with any other roads.
“Isn’t that rather odd that something that doesn’t pass four of the five needs” is the preferred choice, Adams said.
“According to the route comparison, 2B2 does not satisfy the purpose or needs of the study, it exceeds the design criteria and it displaces 22 residents,” Adams said later, reading from a July 2004 Bangor Daily News article. “The 3EIK-2 route meets all of the DOT study requirements and displaces only two homes.”
The state selected 3EIK-2 as its preferred route in 2003 and recently changed to 2B2, the route preferred by Holden.
3EIK-2 would extend I-395 by almost two miles along the southern side of U.S. Route 1A in Holden before turning northward and winding through mostly unpopulated areas until crossing Route 9, circumventing East Eddington and reconnecting to Route 9 at the Eddington-Clifton town line.
While the state has a preferred route, transportation officials also have left two other alternatives — 5A2B2 and 5B2B2 — on the list for comparison, MDOT spokesman Ted Talbot said Tuesday.
The Federal Highway Administration, which eventually will pay for the project, the Maine Department of Transportation and the Army Corps of Engineers agreed to study the three alternatives in the spring of 2011.
The 5A2B2 route extends I-395 at its most southerly point by approximately one mile and then turns north to a junction with U.S. Route 1A, roughly following the Holden-Brewer line, mostly on the Brewer side, until entering Eddington and connecting with Route 9.
The 5B2B2 route would extend I-395 at its Wilson Street junction and would wind north toward the Eastern Avenue and Lambert Road junction, then would parallel the Brewer-Holden town line until crossing into Eddington and turning east toward Route 9.
“It breaks my heart that this happened,” Adams said. “I don’t feel I can protect my home.”
Former City Councilor Manley DeBeck, who was the council’s representative on the public advisory committee and worked on the project for nearly a decade, said after the last committee meeting, “it sounded like, at least to me, that it would be put on the shelf” because of the lack of federal funding.
MDOT estimates the project will cost $70 million to $101 million.
DeBeck went on to say, “I smell a rat.”
Mayor Jerry Goss said the council would have an order concerning the proposed connector before them in February. The last official action the council took was in April 2009, when it endorsed the state’s preferred route, which now has been abandoned.
“Hopefully, we can plan a course that will be effective for our citizens” and not circumvent 10 years of hard work, Councilor Joseph Ferris said.
This will be a case of you can’t fight city hall…because it’s hard to win when the refs are against you.
Kickbacks have already been had, no turning back now.
I feel bad for this guy, because he’s going to have a highway running through his back yard and there’s nothing he can do to stop it.
Check out 3EIK-2, or a Slight variant from 395 head out East North East on the
North side of the RR tracks, include a few strategic and scenic curves
to avoid some homes and hit Rt. 9 just North of Hope Manor.
Dhamnd near Perfect if you ask me.
There are Lots of Local gravel pits and construction companies Dying for the work.
Their employees and trucks are rarin’ to get Started!
Let’s ROLL !
I am sure this Mr Adams has all the qualifications of road and environmental etc engineering to make these statements. Or is he an armchair engineer with too much time on his hands?
“Does it pass the study purpose? Well no,” he said. “Does it meet the [U.S.] Army Corps of Engineers purpose? No.”
It’s obvious from his responses that he is an expert about the situation.
Mr. Adams was reading from the PAC materials, prepared by qualified professionals, and readily available on the PAC website for you to review as well. The “handouts” pdf from the 04/15/2009 PAC meeting show where it does not meet four out of five criteria and is marked as “Does not satisfy the long-term system linkage need that is satisfied by other study alternatives.”. http://www.i395-rt9-study.com/Pubs/handouts041509.pdf
Even if it does not meet their own “definition” the state does not care, as long as it helps Canada get here easier, and the state gets to take down your house or your backyard, they really do not care…
How can we even think about building a new highway…we are broke. People are stealing lunch money for heating fuel and setting police cars on fire because of lost medical assistance, yet we can afford a new highway?
New highway means new jobs, means wages to pay for heat, food and medical care. It’s an investment in future prosperity, that’s how we can think of it.
Why doesn’t someone look at these ficts that are being presented to see if they are in fact correct. These articles are always one sided and have little or no value to the issue. The reporter needs to do some investigative work here and bring the principles together to explain what is going on and why. Example 2 homes versus 22 does not make sense.
How come we don’t all get a nice spotlighted newspaper article? No reporters came to my house to ask my opinion of 3EIK-2. If Mr. Adams’ opinion is so important, mine should be too because the proposed right of way for 3EIK-2 is approximately 30 feet from my property line. That puts it about 80 feet from my kitchen door. Nothing like eating and sleeping with the trucks after you move out of town to get away from them. And so much for the equity built up in the property after living there for over 20 years. Oh, and DOT “may” take some adjacent properties just to basically kiss the town’s butt for cutting it in half.
I feel bad for anyone having to be stuck next to this ridiculous project. People I don’t feel sorry for is anyone who moved to Route 9 or Route 46 in the last 35+ years. If you didn’t know it was a truck route, that’s your bad.
Is anyone that read this article going to Calais? Doubt it. DOT stated during the PAC meetings that traffic projections for the next 30 years on Route 9 would not warrant widening the extension to 4 lanes but the right of way would allow for that expansion. No one is going to Calais and if they are, the road is actually great now. It’ll be fantastic for our Canadian truck driver and tourist friends so they can stop at a couple of Irving/Circle K’s (Canadian owned) before they blow on through the state. Somehow funding that doesn’t make me all warm and fuzzy. If DOT hasn’t noticed, the traffic is going to Ellsworth, Bar Harbor, etc. Try turning left onto 1A in the summertime. That’s where any new East-West corridor needs to go first and then on to Calais if necessary.
Another point is why should the town of Holden shoulder all the burden of this highway by getting cut in half? Shouldn’t the communities benefitting from this extension, i.e: Brewer and Eddingtion, also shoulder some of the burden? There is already a power line or pipe line along 2B2 and this route would have the chance to equally annoy people in all three towns.
Sorry, just had to vent a little……..
It would be great if all the affected towns would have their own articles to tell the state not to build any of the proposed connector routes. Your opinion is just as important. The more people that speak up, the sooner we can stop the madness. None of the communities benefit from this project. The state of Maine does not benefit either. This is a lose lose for everyone.
Tell that to all the families of those that have Died on that road.
Hey, Be Thankful it’s not going Through your kitchen door as it very well could through others.
3EIK-2, or a Slight variant from 395 head out East North East on the North side of the RR tracks, include a few strategic and scenic curves to avoid some homes and hit Rt. 9 just North of Hope Manor. Dhamnd near Perfect if you ask me.
There are Lots of Local gravel pits and construction companies Dying for the work.
Their employees and trucks are rarin’ to get Started!
Let’s ROLL !
Suffice it to say, Brewer needs better management, city planners, and engineers. Case in point, the ‘Benton Road Project’ from two summers ago.
Not specific to Brewer, especially, it’s the same sort of vision and atendent thought process, or perhaps better put, an apparent lack thereof that would effectively explain the Bangor Mall area and/or the Big Dig.
any city or state officials bought any land along this new route lately ?