SANFORD, Maine —
Gov. Janet Mills toured downtown Sanford with Mayor Anne-Marie Mastraccio and Maine Transportation Commissioner Bruce Van Note to talk about the revitalization of the city’s downtown on Monday.
The downtown Sanford Village Partnership will use $34 million of local, state, and federal funds to improve the infrastructure of the downtown, including more parking and a park-and-ride facility.
"Make it much more visitor-friendly, pedestrian-friendly, [and] bicycle-friendly under the Village Partnership Initiative. I’m very excited," Mills said. "But more importantly, the DOT, working in partnership with the City of Sanford, and the federal government, making this a much more livable safe space for the people of Sanford and their visitors."
Mastraccio moved to Sanford in 1982 and hopes to make the downtown vibrant again.
“Everything was uptown. I lived on Lebanon Street. We could walk everywhere, and in the afternoon, you could go from store to store, place to place. Things to eat. I see that happening in the future, and that’s the biggest thing that I’m excited about. That we turn a vibrant downtown that probably hasn’t been that way in 30 to 35 years," Mastraccio said.
Mills also wanted to thank U.S. Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Angus King, I-Maine, for their work in getting federal funds for this project.
“This is one of many projects we are doing across the state of Maine with money from the bipartisan infrastructure law and other partnerships with the federal government to re-invigorate our downtowns across our state,” Mills said.