It seems Gov. LePage’s administration is developing a track record of making jaw-dropping announcements regarding Rt. 1. In March DOT Commissioner David Bernhardt announced the state would immediately stop supporting the development of the long running Gateway 1 project.
On Monday, Bernhardt announced the state was calling a halt to the even longer running Wiscasset Bypass issue.
Midcoast residents have been grousing about Wiscasset traffic for so long, we were starting to figure, like black flies and high property taxes, the aggravation is just part of the permanent price we pay for living here.
If the state’s decision to stop is truly one of cost, we think it’s a good call. Really, $100 million is a lot of money to fix something that, admittedly, is a short duration problem.
We strongly agree, as well, with the Commissioner’s thoughts regarding our ongoing need to shore up our existing infrastructure. We have roads and bridges crumbling around us as it is. It certainly seems to be a prudent course of action to make sure we can maintain what we already have before we add more.
Another good thing the decision does is it forces everyone to focus on the facts on the ground. Maybe it’s time to step back and take a fresh look at the situation starting with the thought that this stretch of road and these by now well-defined parameters are what we are going to have to work with. Somehow, some way they will have to do.
Of course, if all else fails and $100 million or so magically drops out of the sky, we still have all the groundwork that has been done to this point. For some time to come we could presumably resume this long slog right where we left off.
We are going to have to do something bypass or no, because, seasonal though it may be, there is still a traffic problem in Wiscasset. Even the Commissioner recognized this in his announcement.
Regardless of attempts to explain it away or minimize it, the problem is there, it’s serious, and it isn’t going away. If anything, it’s only going to get worse as the coming decades bring more traffic and more people to the Midcoast.
Something should have been done before now and if the projected growth trends for the Midcoast hold true, something will absolutely have to be done in the future. For the moment though, the question is, now what?
