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 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. Last Friday, 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 policy 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 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 will voice its support on May 7.
    As of press time, calls to Jerre Bryant at Westbrook City Hall were unanswered.