PORTLAND, Maine — A national transportation trade group says Maine is falling behind other states when it comes to maintaining bridges.
The group, known as TRIP, finds that a third of local and state-maintained bridges show significant deterioration or do not meet current design standards.
TRIP is urging Mainers to approve an $85 million transportation bond in next week's election.
Nearly 24,000 vehicles a day drive across the bridge over the Stroudwater River in Portland.
According to a new report from TRIP, it's one of the 364 bridges across the state that are "structurally deficient."
A short distance away at the Portland Jetport, TRIP's director of research and policy Rocky Moretti unveiled the key findings of the study at a news conference. The study finds 15 percent of bridges are "structurally deficient."
Moretti says that means bridges are in need of major repairs, but it does not mean they pose a safety threat.
"They're in no imminent danger of collapsing," he says. "The danger is an economic danger, that if you don't make those repairs you're going to be in a position where you're going to have to start to restrict them to lighter-weight vehicles, or even close them. And when you close a bridge what you're closing is that region's economy in terms of its ability to move goods."
In addition, the report finds 18 percent of Maine's bridges are functionally obsolete, meaning they no longer meet current highway design standards.
The age of Maine's bridges is part of the problem: more than a quarter of them are at least 70 years old. The number of state-maintained bridges considered in poor condition is also on the rise, up 18 percent over the past seven years.
But while Maine's share of poor bridges is increasing, Moretti says the situation is improving at the national level.
"The state really is at a critical juncture in terms of deciding moving forward how to address its bridge challenges," he says.
Earlier this year, the Maine Department of Transportation released a report saying it needs to double its investment in the state's bridges to $140 million a year. The TRIP report puts the figure even higher. It suggests the state would need to triple its current level of investment to put in place a long-term bridge repair program.
Either way, transportation advocates view the passage of the Question 3 bond proposal next week as crucial.
Dana Connors from the Maine State Chamber of Commerce says more than half of the $85 million bond issue would be invested in Maine's bridges.
"Investment in our state's transportation system is an investment in our economy," he says.
Connors says that $85 million will trigger a further $121 million in matching funds.
"Passing question 3 will help our businesses serve existing customers but also open up new markets and new opportunities," he says.
"This is a great first step, and clearly we're going to need another bond next year," says Maria Fuentes, executive director of the Maine Better Transportation Association, which advocates for investment in the state's transport infrastructure. "But clearly we need more of a long-term solution as well."
Fuentes says like many states, Maine is struggling with poor levels of federal transportation funding. She points to the federal gas tax which has not increased in 22 years, and is actually decreasing as vehicles become more fuel efficient.
Maine DOT spokesman Ted Talbot agrees this is a concern.
"Every state's transportation needs has always exceeded available funding, never more so than currently," he says.
Talbot says the state doesn't yet know how it's going to come up with the $140 million annual investment that is needed for Maine's bridges, but there are plans to get some of the way there.
"We hope to increase bridge funding by about $35 million per year to about $110 million per year," he says.
Key to achieving that, Talbot says, is passage of Question 3.
He and others can take comfort in the fact that history is on their side: Maine voters haven't rejected a transportation bond in 46 years.