By Amanda Estes

Staff Writer

    As construction on the Gorham Bypass nears,
officials from Gorham, Scarborough, Westbrook, and South Portland are
requesting the Maine Turnpike Authority (MTA) conduct a study on the
feasibility of a westerly access road from the Exit 45 interchange in
South Portland to Gorham, possibly connecting with the bypass. The
congestion on Routes 22, 25, 114, and 302 is expected to increase with
the construction of the bypass, making a longer and more stressful
commute for motorists traveling to Portland, South Portland, and
Westbrook from the evolving western “bedroom” communities such as
Standish, Buxton, and Hollis.

    A westerly access road has been the subject of
several studies since 1988, but a 2001 study by the Maine Department of
Transportation (MDOT) and the MTA demonstrated growing support for the
connector in that motorists would be willing to pay a toll to use the
road.

    Scarborough Town Manager Ron Owens said the
communities are moving forward “now that we know the road could be
built as a toll road and be self-sufficient.”

    The Scarborough Town Council made a resolution of
support for the study last week. The MTA has asked the host communities
to submit official requests in the form of a resolution, which was
prepared by Owens, Gorham Town Manager David Cole, Westbrook City
Administrator Jerre Bryant, and South Portland Planning and Development
Director Tex Haeuser.

    “After looking at many options of widening,
expanding, or relocating, it seemed to make more sense to have a road
that would bypass that area and connect directly to the Gorham bypass,”
Owens said.

    In addition to input from the host communities, the
MTA will also be coordinating the study with MDOT and the Portland Area
Comprehensive Transportation Committee (PACTS). PACTS is a federally
mandated organization that assists urban areas with transportation
planning. Director John Duncan said PACTS would be working with the
communities to provide planning funds for a regional land use study.

    “A road such as this so called westerly access road
would have significant long term regional land development implications
and therefore we ought to consider developing a regional land use
plan,” Duncan said.

    Duncan said PACTS is in the process of developing
its budget for studies for the next two years and there is some money
that hasn’t been budgeted yet that could possibly be used for the land
use study.

    Duncan said one directive of a regional land use
policy would be encouraging development in concentrated areas.

    “The principal there is, if there are villages or
hamlets or other concentrations of land development, that it avoids the
sprawling of our region and creates a sense of community in these
concentrated places,” he said. “As a result, in the long term, it
reduces the amount of travel that people have to do [than] if new
houses were built in a very dispersed way and if new businesses were
built in a dispersed way.”

    Municipal officials overall seem optimistic that
regional land use policies could reduce the spread of residential and
commercial development to rural areas. Cole said he thinks the region
can achieve some sort of balance.

    “Most of the municipalities have fairly good
comprehensive plans and I think we recognize the need to do some
additional regional planning so that this road will bring economic
prosperity to the region while trying to minimize the additional sprawl
impacts,” he said.

    Cole said Gorham hosted a MTA workshop last month in
which there was strong support coming from both representatives of host
communities and representatives from the commuter communities.

    Terence Christy, Chair of the Standish Town Council,
attended the workshop to encourage the MTA to “make a bold move.”

    Christy agrees sprawl is a manageable problem and
said he is advocating for the MTA to extend access routes to the New
Hampshire border.

    “User fees pay for the expansion so why not go into the western part of the state?” he said.

    He said Rte. 25 currently sees a lot of commercial
traffic coming from the Osippee, New Hampshire area and connecting that
area with other areas of Maine could potentially provide economic
benefits for the state.

    As far as the current situation for commuters is
concerned, Christy said Standish residents are anxious about the heavy
traffic on Rte. 25. He said the first part of his commute, from
Standish to Scarborough, takes 40 minutes during peak travel times. He
said if motorists plan ahead they can avoid the heavy congestion, but
the situation can be frustrating.

    Haeuser said while reducing the commuting time for
Christy and others could encourage sprawl, it is happening now and is
going to continue even if the connector is never built. He also agreed
that the connector could provide economic development opportunities for
the state.

    “There is that potential with good planned highway
and transportation oriented design [to] attract businesses from out of
state to a new research park, biotech facility, or advance electronics
[facility].”

    Haeuser said the regional cooperative could also
provide the opportunity to work toward a goal of improving access to
alternative modes of transportation, such as bus service and bike and
pedestrian access.        “My hope is if
this gets off the ground, turnpike authority would obtain enough right
of way width to have options in the future for a high speed bus lane or
for separate pedestrian and bike paths and if technology ever gets
cheaper, potentially light rail,” he said.

    Duncan, however, has his doubts about the feasibility of a public transportation system in the region.

    “I think it’s important to say that public
transportation will not work in that corridor and points west if the
future development is a very dispersed development,’ he said. “I think
it won’t work even with concentrated development, but that’s a matter
of opinion.”  

    At this early stage in the process, the MTA has yet
to produce a map or a design for the access road. Dan Paradee, MTA’s
Public Affairs Manager, said the Exit 45 vicinity is the most discussed
starting point.

    The Gorham Town Council is expected to take up the
resolution at its next regular meeting on May 1 and the South Portland
city council is expected to voice its support on May 7.

    As of press time, calls to Jerre Bryant at Westbrook City Hall were unanswered.