Latest news with #LydiaCrafts
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Plans to replace inactive rail tracks with pedestrian trails approved by Legislature
An overview of the Berlin Subdivision Rail Corridor, which runs along a state-owned corridor through eight towns, including Portland, Falmouth, Cumberland, Yarmouth, North Yarmouth, Pownal, New Gloucester, and Auburn. (Image via Maine DOT) Maine lawmakers passed two bills that will pave the way for the state to develop defunct rail lines into trails for walking, biking and more. On Tuesday, the House of Representatives voted 118-26 to pass LD 30, which will replace inactive railroad tracks between Portland and Auburn with a multi-use pedestrian trail. A similar bill (LD 29) to convert tracks between Brunswick and Gardiner, as well as a portion between Pembroke and Calais in the Downeast region, into a trail also passed 116-26. The Senate approved the proposals earlier this month but on Wednesday the upper chamber placed both bills on the special highway table, which is where bills not provided for in the budget are placed to be considered for remaining highway fund allocations. Both proposals will require money, but the fiscal notes do not specify an amount. Rather, they direct the Maine Department of Transportation to undertake the projects subject to funding, permitting and municipal agreements. LD 29 and LD 30 came from recommendations put forward by Rail Use Advisory Councils that solicited public input and held multiple meetings within the local communities to determine the best use for the tracks. Rep. Lydia Crafts (D-Newcastle), who co-chairs the Legislature's Transportation Committee, said that process exists to help guide legislators. During the House debate, Rep. Karen Montell (D-Gardiner) introduced floor amendments for each of the bills, which sought to prohibit the state from moving forward with the trail development if there is an active business proposal for the rail line. Both amendments failed. The State Railroad Preservation Act allows former rail lines to be converted into trail use, but stipulates that they must be preserved for future rail use. The statute says that any track removal or other change for nonrail use is considered interim. Because of that, Montell argued a more sensible solution would be to build a trail alongside the tracks so they can coexist. Crafts said restricting the ability to use state dollars would prevent the project from being successful. Rep. Amy Kuhn (D-Falmouth), who was involved with the RUAC process in her community, said she was in strong support of converting the redundant, deteriorating rail line into an active transit corridor where commuters can travel by foot or bike. She also worried that it would set a bad precedent to come in with a last-minute amendment to an extensive stakeholder process. Although the Down East Sunrise Trail, a multiuse corridor connecting eastern Maine with the East Coast Greenway, was controversial at first, Rep. Will Tuell (R-East Machias) said businesses have embraced it and seen economic benefits. He loves walking his dog on the trail. Seeing that change in his own community, Tuell said he supported LD 29 because extending the trail to Calais will only boost the whole region. Similarly, Rep. Dan Ankeles (D-Brunswick) said the plan would mark one of the 'greatest advancements in active transportation in a long time.' He said that the best use of the defunct rail lines is a trail and that the lawmakers should 'take the words of the communities that actually did the work,' referring to the advisory councils that developed the recommendations. If the Legislature failed to adopt the recommendations, Ankeles said, 'what we will actually get is a guarantee that nothing will ever happen at all on these lines except decay, abandonment and the squandering of potential in Washington, Sagadahoc and Kennebec counties. In short, economic blight.' However, he said that would be avoided by passing the measures. 'We can do what Mainers do best and adapt and repurpose and in doing so we can deliver something truly wonderful for our constituents,' Ankeles added. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bill to kill Gorham Connector crashes in committee
May 8—A bill that would ensure the controversial Gorham Connector proposal is dead was soundly rejected by the Legislature's transportation committee this week. LD 1020 would repeal 2017 legislation that directed the Maine Turnpike Authority to plan and build a toll highway extension from South Portland, through Scarborough and Westbrook, to Gorham. The bill follows the authority's announcement in March that it enlisted the Maine Department of Transportation to consider alternative solutions to commuter traffic congestion west of Portland. Neither agency has said the connector proposal has been dropped entirely. The bill also would order the authority to sell any land purchased for the project to the previous owners or give it to the municipalities where the properties are located. If municipalities didn't want the land, the authority would have to offer it to a local land trust before selling it. The authority has spent $6.3 million on 15 properties totaling 340 acres, or about 30% of the 50 parcels the authority would need to complete the project. The bill's supporters say they want to make sure the plan to build a 5-mile, four-lane toll highway isn't considered a viable option in the upcoming study, which is expected to take 18 to 24 months. The committee sided with the bill's opponents, including Department of Transportation officials, who said eliminating the connector proposal from potential solutions would predetermine the outcome of the study before it starts. "I don't think you'd want to do any of those things until you knew what the options were," said Sen. Brad Farrin, R-Norridgewock, a committee member. The committee voted 9-3 Wednesday to recommend that LD 1020 "ought not to pass" when it goes before the House and Senate in the coming weeks. The committee instructed Department of Transportation officials to report back early next year on the study's progress. "I don't want the department or the turnpike expending resources and energy and time without community support," said Rep. Lydia Crafts, D-Newcastle, committee chair. The MTA has already spent $18 million developing the connector proposal, which has been in the works for more than 20 years. Now estimated to cost at least $331 million, the project drew organized opposition after the authority announced its preferred route in February 2024. Public dissent swelled last summer, when an MTA poll found that 45% of respondents said they oppose (12%) or strongly oppose (33%) the connector, while 40% said they support (20%) or strongly support (20%) building the road. Municipal councils in Scarborough and Westbrook withdrew their support. Supporters of the highway project say it would be an effective solution to traffic congestion, especially as more homes are being built in communities west of Portland. Connector opponents say it's an outdated and costly proposal that would do little to fix commuter congestion. They say it would displace homes, worsen suburban sprawl and vehicle emissions, and destroy wetlands, farmlands and forests. They also note that traffic counts dropped in the wake of the pandemic, in part because more people are working from home, and they say options such as roundabouts and other improvements to existing roads would be cheaper and less invasive. The transportation committee also rejected another turnpike-related bill, LD 1292, also sponsored by Sen. Stacey Brenner, D-Scarborough, recommending 12-1 that it "ought not to pass." It would require the authority to transfer additional toll revenue collected beyond its legislatively approved budget to the Department of Transportation's highway fund. Copy the Story Link
