Mobility is ingrained in people. By necessity, most of Maine continues to live and work by relying primarily on private vehicles and roads. It’s essential for our employment, commerce, education, delivery of goods and services, recreation and social engagement.
Every weekday, about 140,000 vehicles enter Portland in the morning, leaving in the afternoon. About a third of this traffic originates from about 30 towns west of Portland. Closer to Portland, four interior municipalities – Gorham, Scarborough, South Portland and Westbrook – are most affected by this traffic. Route 22 alone handles between 1,200 and 1,300 vehicles per hour.
For decades, everyday mobility west of Portland has been impaired by daily congestion. Because traffic demand exceeds the maximum capacity of the area’s roads, cars idle in line or divert to unsuitable side roads to the detriment of local and regional air quality, livability of area neighborhoods and productivity of our traveling workforce. Longer and less direct routes and the stop-and-go traffic all contribute to climate change through increasing vehicle emissions.
We face a challenge here to improve mobility while improving our state’s air quality and greenhouse gas emissions, and must use as many tools as we can to change course on the congestion west of Greater Portland.
In 2007, Westbrook and South Portland joined with Gorham and Scarborough to ask the Maine Turnpike Authority for help in addressing chronic mobility, congestion and safety issues. As a result, the Legislature directed MTA, MaineDOT and Greater Portland’s planning organization to evaluate reasonable solutions to the area’s worsening congestion.
MTA invested $1.6 million to evaluate both road and non-road solutions, with active participation by the aforementioned groups and many other transportation, environmental and regional stakeholders. The evaluation looked at the effects of dramatically expanding transit, encouraging development that supports the use of transit and new road capacity.
In 2012, three recommendations emerged. First, that communities adopt land use patterns that support road and transit investments, encouraging higher density development in specific areas to support efficient and affordable choices for travel. Second, that expanded transit be implemented based on priority and funding. The 2012 report proposed 19 new bus transit routes, several of which have since become operational. And third, that additional road capacity must be created to relieve congestion, make transit feasible and support community-based land use planning.
Achieving the overall project goals of this evaluation will dramatically improve our region. They will reduce traffic congestion, expand transit, mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, reduce commute times and make it easier to embrace sound land use planning and development. We believe that this multi-faceted approach, taken from thoughtful deliberation among many stakeholders, strikes the appropriate balance.
As a result of this evaluation, Maine Turnpike Authority made a focused assessment of reasonable options for increasing road capacity in the region. Construction of a new road has emerged as the alternative with the most long-term regional benefit and least impact to our communities.
While some focused land use planning and expanded transit routes have taken place since 2012, our municipalities can, collectively, do better. We believe new road capacity is not counter to these efforts. Instead, they work hand-in-hand like the three legs of a stool, providing an integrated, sustainable solution to a long-standing problem.
Mayor Michael Foley of Westbrook and the South Portland City Council again joined with our two communities – Scarborough and Gorham – in January to reaffirm our commitment to pursuing this sustainable and appropriate solution for our region. We expect the Turnpike Authority will have a potential road alignment ready to share this fall in more detail. We all look forward to collaborating with our regional partners and engaging stakeholders at that time to make a success of this new road.
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