AUGUSTA — As part of an effort to secure $20 million in federal grant money, the LePage administration says it is willing to commit $35 million to help replace the Memorial Bridge between Kittery and Portsmouth, N.H.
The federal money, known as a TIGER II grant, has been approved but not released, and budget wrangling in Congress has raised questions about whether Maine and New Hampshire, which co-own the bridge, will get it.
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Gov. Paul LePage met with lawmakers from York and Cumberland counties Tuesday and reiterated his support for the project.
“The governor told us he would like to help in any way he can to get funding,” said state Sen. Dawn Hill, D-York. “I’m a little frustrated because of the pitfalls, but ultimately, I believe this will happen.”
The bridge replacement is expected to cost $90 million. Plans call for each state to contribute $35 million and the federal grant to pay for the rest.
But the U.S. House approved a spending plan last month that would eliminate the grant money. That bill has yet to be taken up by the Senate, and whether the $20 million will be included in a final version is unclear.
LePage has said he will not support additional state bonding at this time, including for transportation projects. But the previous Legislature and Maine voters approved $160 million in bridge bonding, and $55 million of that is still available, said Bruce Van Note, deputy commissioner of the Maine Department of Transportation.
Van Note said the LePage administration was preparing a memorandum of agreement with New Hampshire outlining each state’s commitment to the project. Maine officials hope to convince the Obama administration to release the funding, even though some administrative work still needs to be done, before Congress approves a budget that cuts it.
“Assuming the TIGER grant falls into line, we’re ready to proceed,” Van Note said.
The Memorial Bridge, one of three connecting Kittery to Portsmouth, was built in 1923 and tops New Hampshire’s list of bridges in need of replacement. It was forced to close for repairs in December for about two weeks.
Hill said the bridge is important not only to local businesses, but the rest of the state as well.
“If you remember, the governor, the day after he stepped into office, sent a sign down south to put on I-95 saying we’re open for business. My point is, what does it matter if they can’t get over here? So the bridges are critical,” she said.
Bill Boynton, spokesman for the New Hampshire Department of Transportation, said the two-week shutdown in December had a noticeable impact.
“It was right leading into the Christmas season, and the merchants and the restaurants and everybody else got a little glimpse of it and didn’t like what they saw,” he said. “Not only the people who live on both sides, but it also changes the whole traffic flow of the whole mindset of where people are going for commerce and that kind of thing.”
State Sen. Jon Courtney, R-Sanford, said Congress’ actions are forcing Maine to commit a lot of its remaining funding to one project, which will affect the rest of the state.
“I think we don’t have a choice, just based on the way Congress is working right now, or we’re going to forgo that $20 million,” he said. “So we are going to have to come up with some creative ways going forward to fund the rest of the transportation projects. It just makes our jobs a little bit tougher.”
U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, said Tuesday in an interview that she believes moving ahead as quickly as possible with the bridge project is “imperative” because of the bridge’s deteriorating condition. Snowe and U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, also R-Maine, said they are trying to persuade the Obama administration to speed up the release of the $20 million.
They, along with U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., wrote a letter Tuesday to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood again asking him to expedite the money’s release.
U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-1st District, also has asked LaHood to release the bridge money, and has noted that she supported an unsuccessful effort by House Democrats to restore the bridge money and other transportation funding eliminated in the House spending bill.
MaineToday Media Washington Bureau Chief Jonathan Riskind contributed to this report.
MaineToday Media State House Writer Rebekah Metzler can be contacted at 620-7016 or at: rmetzler@mainetoday.com
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