In late September, news broke that a project called the Acadia Gateway Intermodal Facility and Acadia National Park Welcome Center would benefit from an $800,000 grant from the Federal Transit Administration. The facility is designed to promote use of the Island Explorer bus system on Mount Desert Island.
But my first thought when reading this title was of a large industrial parking lot where trucks carrying 53-foot shipping containers could be lifted by crane onto railcars (or vice versa) for destinations beyond Maine’s borders. The reason? Because of the use of the term “intermodal.”
While use of the term is not technically incorrect in this title, it is largely incorrect. A more accurate description of the project would be a facility designed to encourage “intermodal passenger transportation.”
So what is the big deal about one word?
The big deal is that in the rest of the country, most working professionals would have imagined exactly what I had originally pictured in my mind — a large truck-to-rail yard. That is because for much of the rest of the country, the term “intermodal” is used when talking about a complex and fluid system that coordinates the transportation of freight — not passengers — from manufacturers to distributors, stores and warehouses.
The fact of the matter is this incorrect use of the term “intermodal,” which has been used by the Maine Department of Transportation in many different transportation plans, demonstrates a larger problem that plagues the state of Maine: Maine’s transportation planning efforts are, frankly, antiquated when compared to the rest of the country.
It may seem like I’m making a big deal out of the improper use of one word, but in this day and age, Maine’s future can stand no room for error. Whether it is the recently announced termination of service to Maine’s only true intermodal facility in Auburn by the only international freight rail connection, CN Rail, or the closure of a long-standing paper mill in eastern Maine, the trend seems obvious. And while Maine struggles to properly plan and build a freight transportation network based on moving freight not just to and from Maine, but also through it, other stronger routes between busy hubs like Halifax, Saint John, Montreal, Boston and New York City will continue to grow, as global freight traffic continues to trend upward, especially in the intermodal sector.
So what can be changed?
First, let’s revisit the word “intermodal” as it was used by Maine DOT. For this $800,000 federal grant, the term was used for a passenger facility aimed at getting tourists into the state. By looking at recent history, it would seem that Maine’s priority is moving passengers rather than moving actual freight. This isn’t to say some projects haven’t been oriented for freight use or served a dual benefit for both, but clearly the priority is passenger transportation. I honestly can’t say that moving people is a bad idea, unless of course your state is facing a possible population decline in the future.
So, what happens to the investment used for moving people when there is no population to sustain passenger services? The investment is lost. Clearly, further investments in passenger services before freight investments may prove to be a poor long-term investment.
What I propose is more than a change in vocabulary, but a real change in philosophy for Maine’s transportation planners.
Stop focusing on moving people through the state, and start focusing on moving freight through it. Investing money into Maine’s ports, rails, highways and intermodal facilities will create jobs, and these jobs will support families and new generations of Mainers.
While certainly Maine may struggle from its declining manufacturing base in the near term, stronger transportation networks can attract new growth and capture freight moving around Maine to and from Atlantic Canada.
Rail and intermodal investment in central Maine should establish key corridors that serve a public-private interest and establish a competitive advance for Maine: Expand freight transportation solutions without building a new highway and move products to market faster than foreign competitors to keep jobs in Maine where they belong.
Charles Hastings has an MBA from the University of Maine with a joint master’s in global policy. A Maine native, he lives in central Pennsylvania, working in the freight transportation industry.