AUGUSTA, ME_ Transportation experts say Maine is among states spending too little on highway and bridge maintenance.
Governor Paul LePage has said Congress should raise the federal gas tax and advocates for motorists in Maine agree.
"The gas tax hasn't kept pace with inflation." agrees Pat Moody, a spokesman for AAA of Northern New England. He says that Washington needs to take a further step to ensure adequate funding for the long-term. "It costs a heck of a lot of money for materials now compared with what it did 20 years ago when the gas tax was last raised at the federal level.""
State Transportation Commissioner David Bernhardt says to do all the work in the state's current three-year plan for road and bridge construction will take $119 million more per year than is currently in the state budget.
Bernhardt says the LePage administration will seek to shrink that gap with a bond issue. But Bernhardt says the state will also need some kind of additional help from Washington.
