GORHAM – As thousands of commuters stream bumper-to-bumper daily in rush hour traffic along the overlap of routes 22 and 114 in South Gorham, the possibility of relief in the next few years has dimmed considerably.
A multi-million dollar new road alternative was one of two highway options developed in Phase 1 of the Gorham East West Corridor Study aimed at helping solve traffic issues through the region. If the new road option were selected in a next study phase, it most likely would be a toll road spur built by the Maine Turnpike Authority.
But now, it appears that won’t be happening for years.
“The practical matter is, it’s not going to happen in two or three years,” Gorham Town Councilor Matt Mattingly said this week.
“It wouldn’t happen until 2017-2018,” Scott Tompkins, Maine Turnpike Authority spokesman, said Tuesday. “We have some other pressing financial issues.”
The study’s $1 million Phase 1 began in 2009 and concluded this spring. Phase 1 reported that the corridor between Gorham and South Portland is one of the state’s fastest-growing residential areas and transportation officials have identified the corridor as one of the worst for traffic congestion.
According to a 2008 traffic count, more than 22,600 cars a day travel that overlap, which has only two travel lanes. Traffic backups have led to driver road rage and some frustrated motorists have even attempted to drive along the road’s shoulder to dodge traffic. The corridor has long been plagued by traffic congestion.
Susan Babb, an employee of O’Donal’s Nursery on Route 22, said Tuesday drivers sometimes lose their tempers, and she recounted one story of an angry motorist keying another car stuck in traffic.
“It’s terrible,” Babb said about traffic problems.
Ian Crouse of Standish agreed. While waiting Wednesday morning on Route 114 for a green light at the Gorham intersection of Route 22, Crouse, a commuter, said an alternative is needed to keep traffic flowing.
“The traffic is bad in the morning,” said Crouse, after he was stuck in traffic nearly a half mile away before reaching the traffic signal.
“I don’t think there is any question something needs to be done,” Tompkins said.
A bypass, Bernard P. Rines Highway, skirting Gorham Village, opened in 2008, easing congestion downtown. But, the 4.5-mile bypass, which cost $28 million, didn’t aid traffic snarls on the overlap in South Gorham.
Commuters from towns including Buxton, Hollis and Standish travel the overlap area of routes 22 and 114 leading them to the Maine Mall, Portland International Jetport, the Maine interstate system and jobs in Westbrook, South Portland and Scarborough.
Looking for a regional solution to aid transportation, four communities – Gorham, Scarborough, South Portland and Westbrook – signed aboard the corridor study funded by the Maine Department of Transportation and the Maine Turnpike Authority.
Phase 1 recommended a “three-legged stool” solution improving future transportation by implementing land use changes in municipalities to allow density developments, increased bus and rail use, along with possible upgrades of existing roads or a new spur.
Long-range plans aimed at improving transportation and safety in the corridor would be analyzed in Phase 2 of the study, which transportation officials believe could get under way by fall, though that has yet to be confirmed.
Mattingly, who attended a recent Maine Turnpike Authority meeting, said in last week’s Gorham Town Council meeting the turnpike board of directors supports developing this spur, but Mattingly said the bad news is that there is a massive amount of debt that Maine Turnpike Authority is responsible for and they cannot borrow anymore money.
Tompkins said if the turnpike authority needed to borrow money it would require a significant toll increase.
“We’re running out of money to build roads,” Carol Morris, spokeswoman for the corridor study, said this week. “It’s no slam dunk for a turnpike spur.”
Decisions of what to implement would come in Phase 2 of the study and road options would be costly measures. One road scenario outlined in Phase 1 of the study includes improvements to existing roads with a total cost of $86 million. Another scenario would run $110 million, including a $55 million new road linking the Maine Turnpike to the vicinity of the southern end of the bypass in Gorham.
While Phase 2 would determine which of the two highway alternatives, if either, would be constructed, a path for a new highway would be identified in Phase 3 of the study. Morris said study phases typically run 12 to 18 months.
The next study phase hinges on whether the Maine Department of Transportation and Maine Turnpike Authority agree to fund it and would also include the participation of area communities.
Morris said this week a memorandum of understanding is being developed for the communities to sign and the agreement would be reviewed by the study’s Steering Committee.
Officials hope the study continues.
“I expect the next phase of the study to get under way by this fall and maybe by mid August,” Gorham Town Manager David Cole, a member of the study Steering Committee, said this week.
Gerry Audibert, transportation department study manager, believes Phase 2 of the Gorham East West Corridor Study would go forward, although he said department officials would meet within the next month to discuss it and also talk with the Maine Turnpike Authority.
“We need to look at our finances,” Audibert said Tuesday. “We’re putting on our reading glasses and doing the math.”
Tompkins said indications are that there would be a Phase 2.
The item could be on the agenda when the Maine Turnpike Authority board of directors meets at 9 a.m. on Friday, July 29. The turnpike authority funded 80 percent of the cost of Phase 1.
Tompkins said the turnpike authority has been tapped to contribute to work costing millions to repair bridges over the Piscataqua River between Kittery and Portsmouth, N.H. He said the turnpike also has widening and repair indebtedness to pay for besides several other upcoming projects “in the pipeline” that require capital.
“We’re coming up on a spike in commitments,” Tompkins said.
But, Cole is optimistic that project funding would become available when needed.
“The issue will be more about timing projects than ability to fund them. Even if all of the money needed for a project was available today, you would still be looking at four to 10 years of studies and permitting process to go through before starting an actual construction project. So I think the funding will be available when the time comes,” Cole said.
Mattingly questioned how long officials can wait to build before the study would become obsolete. The bypass in Gorham was discussed in several studies for decades before construction began.
Businessman Jeff O’Donal, owner of O’Donal’s Nursery, doubts he’d see a spur become reality.
“Not in my lifetime,” O’Donal said.
From Gorham, Route 114 on the right splits off from Route 22 at
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