01/09/2009
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Staff photo by David Leamingfrom the Kennebec Journal
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All of today's:
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from the Morning Sentinel
SKOWHEGAN -- With the majority of businesses in Skowhegan and Madison relying on local customers to make ends meet, a proposed 11-mile corridor that would bypass downtown Skowhegan would have only "modest impacts" on business activity, the results of a study released Thursday reveal.
The economic impact study, done for the state Department of Transportation by RKG Associates Inc. of Durham, N.H., was conducted to gather data on a possible second bridge over the Kennebec River and a corresponding bypass route that would avoid downtown Skowhegan.
But all of the planning for a possible second bridge and bypass could be for naught if the state economy remains stagnant and existing roads and bridges receive the lion's share of what funding there is, a state highway official said.
Kat Fuller, chief systems planner for the DOT, said the entire project could be in jeopardy.
"The clock is ticking," Fuller said. "The budget situation is not an easy situation. Even with a new administration, the stimulus funding will not take care of the entire problem."
Fuller said that with local opposition to the plan combined with lack of funding, there is a question about whether the project should proceed at all. She cautioned that the project could be mothballed if state and federal highway funding is not available when the Skowhegan bypass job is ready to be done.
Some of the 14 members of the Public Advisory Committee present Thursday and an estimated 40 residents who showed up supported continuing with the study.
Others did not.
The purpose of the bypass would be to eliminate noisy commercial traffic and passenger traffic headed somewhere other than downtown, RKG senior project manager Darren Mochrie told a packed house during the third in a series of Public Advisory Committee meetings. The next meeting is Thursday, Jan. 29.
"There is a potential for development at intersections along the bypass corridor; however, you have to keep in mind the lack of water and sewer in those areas may be a deterrent for certain types of commercial development," Mochrie said.
"Businesses seem to be strong and there's optimism about the future," he said. "The area is a service hub, retail hub, for local residents. There are very few firms that truly depend on seasonal visitors, tourists, truckers.
"Most firms would not be negatively impacted by the bypass. There would be some, but the majority of the businesses would not."
Mochrie said most of the ill effects of a bypass would be felt by small retailers and restaurants.
Department of Transportation project manager Judith Lindsey said 80 to 100 local businesses responded to the survey, or about 14 percent of businesses who were sent the survey.
Lindsey and Fuller said a 14 percent response is considered good.
Supporters of the plan say downtown Skowhegan could become a destination point for shoppers and for a whitewater kayaking park.
Loud logging trucks Jake-braking through the shopping district and other through traffic discourage foot traffic, they have said.
Others say the bypass would slice through residential neighborhoods and would mean the end of retail business in downtown Skowhegan.
Glen Mantor, road commissioner in Madison and a member of the study committee, said he favors the bypass proposal and encouraged DOT officials to keep the process alive.
"Nobody likes to drive through downtown Skowhegan, especially when there's construction or during fair time," Mantor said. "I would be in favor of proceeding."
Mike Sackett, a licensed surveyor whose business is at the northern point of the proposed bypass on U.S. Route 201 in Madison, agreed, as did Skowhegan Road Commissioner Gregory Dore, who said there is a regional need for a second bridge.
But others, including Walter Hight of Hight Chevrolet/Buick/Pontiac/GMC downtown, disagreed. Hight said the available highway funding should be used on existing roads and bridges, not "wasted" on new ones.
"Of the $4.5 almost $5 billion we are short to maintain what we have right now, and we have no money now, why do we waste the money on something 15 years out," Hight asked. "It looks to me like the state of Maine roads got a 'D' on its rank card.
"It looks like my rank card used to be -- 'D' -- when I came home with that rank card, my mother wouldn't say 'Oh, you've done a nice job, here's a new bridge.'"
Doug Harlow -- 474-9534 ext. 342
dharlow@centralmaine.com
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