In her State of the State address, Governor Janet Mills proposed infusing $50 million dollars from the Rainy Day Fund into the Maine Infrastructure Adaptation Fund to help coastal communities that are battling sea level rise rebuild roads and bridges to better withstand storm surges.
Southern Maine Planning and Development Coastal Resilience Coordinator Abbie Sherwin said there are 15 priority vulnerable sites from Kittery to Scarborough that address transportation, habitat restoration and other climate related concerns. Another 35 sites will also need strategies to combat coastal flooding and other vulnerabilities, according SMPDC's Climate Ready Coast Report.
Sherwin said some communities are applying for Maine Infrastructure Adaptation Fund grants now to jumpstart their projects. The state website indicates that grants of $50 thousand to $125 thousand are available in the current round of funding. The deadline to apply is Friday, February 2.
"It will allow communities to undertake the necessary site assessment and engineering to get to a shovel-ready project," Sherwin said.
Sherwin said priority sites for future MIAF funding are roadways that lead to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, those that connect towns from Old Orchard Beach to Biddeford Pool, and the Route 1 corridor through the Scarborough Marsh. Plans include elevating roads to allow tidal flow and restoring saltmarshes that help prevent erosion and flooding, but Sherwin said there are multiple adaptation measures that can be used in each scenario.
"Our communities are now focusing on how to be build back better, so what adaptation measures can be incorporated into repair and recovery activities to not only get infrastructure back to a functional state but also to better prepare it for the next round of storms," she said.
The $50 million Governor Mills wants to use to bolster the MIAF will become a part of her supplemental budget that will go before lawmakers. Subsequent application rounds will be held for the new funding.
Maine Infrastructure Adaptation Fund grants awarded thus far:
- Kennebunkport - to elevate the causeway that connects Cape Porpoise to Bickford Island and the working waterfront.
- Rockland - to separate stormwater from the sewer infrastructure on Crescent Street to eliminate sewer overflow during storms.
- Winslow - to replace existing stormwater structures with those that can handle larger volumes of water.
- Ogunquit - to upgrade and elevate treatment tanks and pump station equipment at its wastewater treatment facility,
The Maine Infrastructure Adaptation fund was created per recommendation of the climate plan and funded with $20 million dollars from the Maine Jobs & Recovery Plan.
More on the infrastructure adaptation program can be found here.
