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March 14,
2007
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Upcoming
Events |
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MBTA 2007 Annual
Meeting
Thursday, May 3
Senator Inn,
Augusta
Transportation Day at the
Legislature
Wednesday, May 23
State House,
Augusta
For more information,
contact the MBTA at (207)
622-0526
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ACTION ALERT: Contact Governor today
about transportation
bond
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Please call the
Governor’s office today to let him know the state needs a large
transportation bond (up to $200 million) for Maine’s economy and
quality of life!
As you know, Maine lost a lot of
ground during the past biennial budget cycle in the battle to fund
highways and bridges to keep them from further deteriorating.
In the last two years, about $200 million in projects have been
cut from the MaineDOT’s capital program. Now, as the Governor
makes decisions about funding to preserve our network of highways,
bridges, rail, ferries, transit and trails — we need to make sure
our voices are heard. The safety of our families is at stake. So
is the future of our businesses and quality of life.
The MBTA is concerned that the Governor is not fully
aware of the magnitude of these risks if the next biennium
again shortchanges our transportation infrastructure. That’s why
we need you to contact him today. He plans to release his bond
package early next week.
MaineDOT and MBTA painted a
dark picture last week in their testimony before the
Legislature’s Transportation Committee on the Highway Fund budget.
Their testimony predicted even more cuts if something doesn’t
change, and a large transportation bond can be one component of
the short-term solution. [Note: clearly, a long-term solution is
needed and we are very anxious to see what the Baldacci
Administration’s plan is going to be to address the transportation
funding crisis]. The department cited falling revenues to the
Highway Fund and construction inflation that will dramatically
reduce MaineDOT’s 2008-2009 capital program by $84 million over
2006-2007’s already meager levels.
A transportation
bond of up to $200 million bond is of vital importance to give
MaineDOT the resources they need to begin fixing our crumbling
highways and bridges.
Please call the Governor’s office
today!
You may use these talking points
or your own:
- Hundreds of jobs have been lost in the last few
years due to the state’s neglect of our transportation
system. Investing in transportation
infrastructure generates a 5.4 to 1 return and is the quickest
way to get the economy moving and get people back to work.
Many of these jobs pay an average of $18 per hour or more.
Can we afford to lose these jobs
forever?
- The safety of our families is at risk! Our
highways and bridges grow more dangerous to travel every day and
we need to make this investment before more lives are lost and
financial hardship is caused (the Maine Development Foundation
recently wrote a report showing that Maine spends $1.1
billion a year and loses 200 lives due
to highway accidents, and one-third of those are caused by
unsafe roads.)
- Maine’s bridges are failing — MaineDOT
recently listed 288 bridges at risk of posting or closure and 69
that already have been restricted. At current funding levels, it
will take decades to address these critical safety issues. In
the last few years, the number of bridges that are 80 years old
or older have doubled!
- Roughly 3,500 miles or 40% of MaineDOT’s 8,500 miles
of state maintained roads have not been reconstructed in over 50
years. These roads represent only 12% of all public
roads but carry nearly two-thirds of all traffic. In 1998,
the Legislature mandated that MaineDOT address these
deficiencies, but eight years later, only a third of the job is
done.
- We need to address critical transportation capital
investments that will keep Maine’s economy moving. If
we don’t have sufficient funding to rehabilitate our roads and
bridges, how will we address other long-term projects like the
East-West Highway, the modernization of I-95 in Bangor, the
Aroostook North-South Highway and I-295 in the
Portland-Brunswick Corridor? These projects will be vital to
fuel growth in all of Maine’s communities in the coming decades.
There are also critical aviation, marine and rail and trail
needs that aren’t being met. The last bond didn’t include
any money for the Industrial Rail Access Program, for example,
which generates jobs in rural Maine.
Governor Baldacci’s contact information:
Office of the Governor
#1 State House Station, Augusta, ME
04333
Fax: 207.287.1034 / Phone:
207.287.3531
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Contact your legislators, too,
and let them know how important transportation investment is to
you. |
Let them know how this funding crisis has
affected you. . . We need all of our leaders in Augusta
to know how important this is for our families, our businesses and
for all of Maine. Below is a link to find your legislators, as
well as the phone numbers at the State House. If you are a
constituent, you should always feel free to contact your
legislators at home, too. Of course, for now, the
most important call/fax/email is to Governor Baldacci as he will
be presenting his bond package in the next few days.
Below are the phone numbers at the State House:
Message line for House members: 1-800-423-2900
Message line for Senate members:
1-800-423-6900
Thank you for your help!
If you have questions, please call Maria at 622. 0526 or 592.
0227.
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DON’T FORGET: MAPA
Annual Paving Seminar coming
up
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James A.
Scherocmanohn, P.E. — author of the “Hot Mix Asphalt Paving
Handbook,” — will be the featured speaker at the annual Maine
Asphalt Pavement Association event March 29-30 at Verillo’s
Convention Center in Portland, Maine.
For registration
information, call Larry Hutchins, (207) 838-1379 or click here.
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