Plans to build a four-lane toll highway west of Portland have been dealt a major setback after town councilors in Scarborough withdrew their support for the project.
Now the Maine Turnpike Authority and local officials are reevaluating how to deal with rush hour traffic in the region, a problem that has persisted for decades.
In a 6-1 vote Wednesday, Scarborough’s town council sent the turnpike authority a clear message — the Gorham Connector doesn’t work for us anymore.
Council Chairman Nick McGee said he knows first hand how bad the daily commute on routes 114 and 22 between Gorham and Scarborough can get.
After hearing residents' concerns about building a proposed five-mile, four-lane highway through town, however, McGee concluded there had to be a better way to deal with the problem.
"I sit in that traffic and I mumble to myself about how bad it is," McGee told a packed council chambers Wednesday. "But the thought of losing what we have out there hurts more."
Local and state officials have fretted about commuter traffic in the region for decades. In recent years, Scarborough, Gorham, Westbrook and South Portland banded together to push for a solution.
That wound up being a 2017 law empowering the turnpike authority to build an expansion, said agency spokesperson Erin Courtney.
"We didn’t ask for this job. This was something that was given to us as something to look at, and we’ve done so," she said.
The four towns recommitted to the Gorham connector in agreements with the turnpike authority two years ago. The road would run between Exit 45 in South Portland to the Gorham bypass at Route 114.
But percolating opposition burst into the open this year after people realized the road would be built on a portion of Smiling Hill Farm, a local institution.
Local outrage melded with opponents who raised concerns the highway would feed sprawl, hurt sensitive habitats and undermine Maine's goal of reducing vehicle traffic and greenhouse gas pollution. Meanwhile, project costs grew to $331 million according to a recent projection from the Turnpike Authority's contractor.
Still, the farm emerged as a standout issue, Courtney said.
"I think that is the major problem. It may not be that they would have been so upset about a connector road if it didn't have such an emotional reaction with Smiling Hill Farm."
The agency could realign the highway to avoid it, but that would mean impacting peoples' homes, she added.
"And that was a policy decision that we had made initially thinking, you know, wet woodlands versus taking homes. We didn't want to take homes," Courtney said.
Scarborough’s position is not fatal to the project, Courtney added. But the turnpike has already taken a step back by recommending its governing board remove the connector from its construction plan and restarting public outreach.
Opponents are pressing to end the proposal for good.
Myles Smith, an organizer with Mainers for Smarter Transportation, said the group has collected more than 12,000 signatures from locals against the highway. The project has been studied a long time, but people now want options like mass transit, walking and biking.
"It's hard to come out and say that a project that has been studied for a long time is is not a good idea anymore," Smith said. "But people's tastes change. We learn more as we go along. Maine is changing how it looks at these types of projects."
Mainers for Smarter Transportation recently released a study recommending alternatives to a highway that could still reduce congestion.
"Mainers just know this is not the right solution for them. Maybe New Jersey or Texas builds these types of highways to try to solve their local congestion problems but Maine knows there’s got to be a better way than that," Smith said.
Scarborough's withdrawal leaves the connector's future up in the air. Westbrook, Gorham and South Portland have not rescinded their support.
But now that the regional foundation of the highway plan is cracking, the turnpike authority will be hard-pressed to move ahead on its own, said Westbrook City Administrator Jerre Bryant.
It will be especially challenging since the bulk of construction would take place in Scarborough, he added.
"The withdrawal of support from one of the key members of this group is a significant blow to this project," Bryant said.
The Scarborough town council said it still wants to work with the turnpike authority to come up with a solution to traffic congestion. It's resolution against the connector said it will reconsider if the agency shows the project is necessary and has public support.