PORTLAND, Maine — The Maine Turnpike Authority announced Monday the proposal of a specific location for its Gorham Connector project, which aims to help ease traffic from Greater Portland to the western suburbs.
The 4.5-mile connector would run from Exit 45 on the Maine Turnpike, which is in South Portland, and end at the Gorham Bypass off Route 114, south of Gorham Village.
The connector will be a toll road, which will fully fund the connector's construction and ongoing maintenance; no taxpayer dollars will be required to complete the project, according to Turnpike staff.
Tom Hall, town manager of Scarborough, said the majority of the project would go through that town, and would alleviate the serious congestion during rush hours.
"There is an existing problem, and I don't think you need to be a traffic engineer to appreciate that," Hall said. "It's been around so long that it's become commonplace that people almost accept it, and, frankly, it's not acceptable."
Turnpike Authority staff said roughly 140,000 people travel into Portland every day. About 16,000 of those drivers use the routes of 22, 25, 114, 112, and other local roads, staff said.
The connector would prevent the bumper-to-bumper traffic that people who live in Gorham, Windham, Standish, Buxton, Westbrook, Scarborough, and others have come to expect during the morning and evening commutes. Turnpike staff said it would shave down a person's commute by 10 minutes by allowing people to drive at speed from Gorham to Portland.
"We see this as a huge benefit to our residents by reducing congestion on our local roads, improving quality of life," Hall said.
The criteria used to determine the route in between heavily depended on avoiding as many environmentally sensitive areas as possible and avoiding negative effects on homes and businesses.
"It comes down to making sure that what we come up with a solution that is going to help improve mobility, improve safety, and make the quality of life better for the public. The region that's trying to get to and from the West and [gets] stuck in stop-and-go traffic daily," Erin Courtney, public outreach manager and legislative liaison for the Maine Turnpike Authority, s. "Nobody wants to be sitting in traffic when they could be home."
In 2007, Gorham, Scarborough, South Portland, and Westbrook signed a joint resolution requesting MTA to look into the feasibility of a new Turnpike connector that would link the Gorham Bypass with the Maine Turnpike. The Legislature also passed a companion resolution at that time. In 2012, a major feasibility study came up with three clear recommendations:
- Create a significant increase in transit ridership and bus routes.
- Create pockets of housing and commercial density that could cost-effectively use transit.
- Increase road capacity. Greater Portland's role as southern Maine's economic driver as well as the area's proximity to Boston indicated the region would continue to experience strong growth in the coming decades.
The MTA has been meeting with the Army Corps of Engineers and the Maine Department of Environmental Protection since 2014.
In 2017, the four communities reiterated their support, and Maine lawmakers reauthorized the request for action. In November 2019, the MTA Board unanimously authorized MTA to move forward on the initial environmental studies, selected land acquisition, and public outreach planning for the connector.
Courtney and Hall said the stakeholders have done extensive research, including looking at alternatives, such as widening the existing roads, but that town residents did not like that idea. Widening the current roads would have had a larger impact on homes and the environment, Hall said.
Courtney and Hall agreed that the project benefits extend beyond reduced traffic: they said it could help reduce emissions, and encourage housing and business development in the areas along the corridor.
"There are all kinds of benefits when you're looking at this as a regional project, not just a road project," Courtney said.
"Just that access and mobility is likely to make them more attractive," Hall said.
One concern is "sprawl:" Yale University defines it as "a form of unplanned urban and suburban development that takes place over a large area and creates a low-density environment with a high segregation between residential and commercial areas with harmful impacts on the people living in these areas."
Hall said he wants to avoid sprawl, while still encouraging housing and business growth. The towns involved are now at the public input stage, which is required by law.
The first public meeting for the project will take place in March in Gorham, though the specifics of the meeting have not yet been released. The meeting will provide opportunities to learn about the project, ask questions, and make comments, and it will be made available virtually for those who cannot or do not choose to travel. More details on the public meeting will be available several weeks before the meeting date.
Hall said the town will shortly be at the point where direct public feedback is desirable. A project website is immediately available for public access, showcasing a background video, FAQs, project updates, and, most importantly, an easy-to-access format for the public to comment and ask questions 24/7.
The Maine Turnpike Authority does have the power of "eminent domain," but both Courtney and Hall said there are fewer than 10 homes that would be affected.
Courtney said MTA executive director, Peter Mills, personally sat down with each homeowner to explain the project.
They are offering to buy the homes from the current owners.
Hall said meetings and conversations have taken place over the past 18 months with landowners and the municipalities and agencies that have signed multiple memorandums of understanding regarding the connector and other key transportation and environmental stakeholders.
The MTA has set up a frequently asked questions page for the project, which include:
What will the project cost?
Until the design is finalized, there is no way of knowing what the cost will be. This project has been given the go-ahead by MTA’s Board subject to remaining financially viable and being able to secure a permit.
How will the connector affect traffic on local roads?
Detailed traffic projections show the new road will take upwards of 50 percent of traffic off the busiest local roads in Gorham as soon as it opens, with a 30 percent reduction in vehicles on the busy overlap section of Routes 22/114. The new roadway will have the capacity to handle projected vehicle traffic in the region into the next century.
How will MTA mitigate for wetland/habitat impacts?
The Gorham Connector is in the early stages of design. Avoidance and minimization opportunities are underway and include outreach to the municipalities, land trusts, etc. Working with state and federal environmental regulators, MTA will likely propose a blend of projects, as well as the use of Maine’s in-lieu fee program. Regardless, mitigation will be focused on the project area.