To the Editor:
One would think, at my age, I would have learned not to be surprised at the human propensity for parochialism. Yet, I was amazed at last Wednesday night’s spectacle at the urgently reassembled Midcoast Bypass Task Force meeting at the Edgecomb Eddy School.
Maine DOT asked the task force members if they wished to continue planning for a bypass of Wiscasset, now that a recently discovered eagle’s nest had rendered the US Army Corps of Engineers-approved route unbuildable. The answer given by the members was that Alna, Wiscasset, Westport, Lincoln County, Sheepscot Valley Conservation Association, Friends of Coastal Preservation, and the Boothbay Region Chamber of Commerce supported continuing to identify a buildable route.
What amazed me was that Newcastle, Edgecomb, and Boothbay were opposed to moving ahead on any bypass route other than the now blocked long bridge route. Chewonki Foundation in abstaining essentially added their vote to the opposition column.
Wiscasset, which as the primary host town will bear the greatest burden of human displacements and tax loss, cast its three votes in favor of moving forward despite the fact that the project would benefit the entire Midcoast region much more than Wiscasset itself. People in Wiscasset have learned to live with traffic congestion and work around it, and there is sizable opposition to a bypass.
Edgecomb, on the other hand, unwilling to accept any significant burden to host a bypass, cast its three votes to oppose moving past the eagle’s nest disappointment. Edgecomb at least would have a small burden to bear, but Newcastle and Boothbay’s opposition is to me, unfathomable. Boothbay Harbor’s representative did not even attend the task force meeting.
The 30,000 summer residents of the Boothbay peninsula, as well as their summer tourism industry, are greatly affected by Rt. 1 traffic congestion. Why their representatives do not support any bypass other than the one blocked by the eagle’s nest leaves me perplexed. Possibly they know something I do not.
Don Jones, Wiscasset
