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This may not be news for most Mainers, but our state
is unique. Jutting sharply north into Canada, Maine
is the only state among the continental forty-eight
that shares a longer border with a foreign country
than with a neighboring U.S. state. But
unfortunately our transportation network denies
Mainers direct access to both their Canadian
neighbors on all fronts - north, east, and west and
direct access to a straight-shot route across the
central United States. Many commercial and private
vehicles traveling west are forced to first travel
south to Interstate 90 in Massachusetts. Logical,
certainly not, but it certainly does prove that
travel from Maine to the other states in the nation
is more difficult than it needs to be.
The solution is simple and clear: an effective
highway that travels from East to West linking Maine
to our neighbors, and the rest of the nation. That
is why I have long advocated for the Maine East-West
Highway project, an initiative that is absolutely
critical to the state’s short and long-term economic
prosperity. As a member of the Senate Commerce,
Science and Transportation Committee, I recognize
the far-reaching benefits of maintaining safe,
efficient passage between origins of commerce and
trade - whether it is intra-state, interstate, or
international. There is no doubt that Maine’s
economic development opportunities depend on the
quality of our transportation network.
The Maine East-West Highway is a system of
projects that address the lack of east-to-west
highway connectivity in-state, including projects to
upgrade Route 2 in Bethel and Gilead; a 2nd
River Crossing in Skowhegan; an I-395/Route 9
Connector south and east of Bangor; and the
Calais-St. Stephen Border Crossing. The East-West
Highway will also provide transportation benefits
for commercial through-traffic on the international
trade corridor linking Maine and other U.S. states
with Canada’s Atlantic front. Since 1998, I have
been successful in securing more than $9 million in
federal funding for the project, which has resulted
in a major planning study and initiation of
construction projects in the corridor. However, the
road to completion is far from complete.
Without question, funding for the East-West
Highway is the single most pressing factor. While I
continue to work both within the appropriations
process in Congress and with state and local
officials, progress is being made, but more could be
done if all of the New England states were to join
together on a region-wide.
Regionalism has been on the upswing since the
establishment of the 1991 Intermodal Surface
Transportation Equity Act (ISTEA), which created 43
transportation corridors that are designated as
federal "High Priority Corridors." But what is
worrying is that while every region of the United
States has a designated High Priority Corridor (HPC),
New England does not. This leaves our region
tremendously disadvantaged in competing economically
given the tremendous volume of trade that is shipped
through our ports and across our border with Canada.
What is clear is that New England requires a HPC
that include portions of New York, Vermont, New
Hampshire and Maine.
The six-year highway reauthorization bill, known
as the "Safe, Accountable, Flexible and Efficient
Transportation Equity Act"(SAFETEA), is currently
pending before Congress. We must take advantage of
this opportunity, and I intend to fight to make sure
that the final version of SAFETEA designates a route
along the U.S. side of the Eastern Canadian border
from Watertown, New York, to Calais, Maine as a HPC.
Additionally, I am working to secure federal
funding within SAFETEA for this massive but critical
Maine project and other "high priority"
transportation projects within our state. In July
2003, Senator Collins and I wrote to the leaders of
the Senate Environments and Public Works Committee
requesting a total of $62.2 million over six years
to be included in SAFETEA for the component projects
that make up the East-West Highway. That request is
currently among being debated in the House-Senate
conference on the bill.
This road towards completion is long and not
without its past and future bumps, but I remain
committed to establishing a safe and efficient
east-west highway linking central and northern Maine
to the world around it. Together, we must be firm in
our resolve and belted in our seats for the
inevitable uneven crossings we are sure to encounter
on our journey east, west, or wherever else we
choose.
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