The Maine Turnpike Authority’s product is undeniably safe, well maintained, and constantly being improved. Think what it would be like traveling on the Maine Turnpike from Portland to New Hampshire if the road was never widened to six lanes in 2004. What if the turnpike exits added this decade weren’t there? What if the current Gorham Bypass wasn’t there? Yet, people from all corners of the state criticized these improvements, including the moving of the toll gates in York and Augusta.

The town of Gorham is a growing community of nearly 19,000 people. There are two primary roads into, out of and through the town from the east, west and south – County Road and Main Street. These names alone portray much of the problem. Additionally, hundreds of vehicles take a myriad of side avenues attempting to avoid daily traffic delays. This is equally a problem.

The existing Gorham Bypass/Route 112 connects Buxton and Waterboro, and this area’s population of 20,000, by Route 202/Route 4 west of Gorham to the roundabout on Route 114/lower South Street. Turning left brings one to downtown Gorham 3 miles away, and turning right leads to Route 22/County Road toward Portland, Scarborough, South Portland and the Maine Turnpike. The other route is through downtown Westbrook, a city of 21,000.

The Turnpike Authority’s Gorham Connector would connect a driver from this bypass roundabout to the Maine Turnpike’s Exit 45, north and south, in four minutes. Thirty seconds later is I-295 with Scarborough, South Portland and Portland only minutes away. Another 60 seconds and you reach Route 1 North and South. Of course, this is true in both directions.

Currently from this roundabout, with little traffic, it takes at least 16 minutes to reach the Turnpike’s Exit 45 by the Maine Mall and Exit 42 by Cabela’s in Scarborough. It takes 17 minutes to reach I-295, and 18 minutes to reach Route 1. During the morning and evening commute it takes commercial and passenger vehicles an extra 15 minutes, each way. How valuable would it be to save thousands of people 15-30 minutes every day? All year long thousands of students and parents in Cumberland County and beyond travel to and from Gorham and Bonny Eagle and USM for events. How important is a reliable, safe trip?

There are 14 stoplights between Gorham Village and the Rand Road Turnpike Exit 46 just behind Rock Row in Westbrook. A frustrating drive of at least 18 minutes. During the morning and evening commute, both Main Street and Route 25/Clarke Drive through downtown Westbrook are bumper to bumper with traffic. Bumper-to-bumper traffic is not good for any business, homeowner or commuter.

All day long 25-ton fuel trucks, 70-foot-long 18-wheel tractor-trailers, school buses, dump trucks, campers and vehicles of all sorts thunder down Main Street Gorham and Main Street Westbrook. Or these vehicles take Route 22 and Route 114/Gorham Road through Scarborough. Once free of the traffic, these vehicles drive at 45-plus mph on a curvy, two-lane road, most of the road lacking shoulders. These were rural, neighborhood roads that were not engineered for such traffic; now it’s the throughway to the turnpike. Commercial and commuter vehicles rumbling by homes whose dining room and bedroom sit just 20 feet from what was a country road; crumbling the streets and tumbling the home values – dozens and dozens of homes and properties that have been in families for generations. Where is the concern for these people?

Adding more 30-foot buses to congested roads doesn’t make common sense. How many buses would it take to deliver all these people to and from work each day? A railroad? Really? Not exactly feasible or aesthetically pleasing, but I know of a great 4.5-mile route on which to build. All surveyed, with nearly all the of dozen or so former property owners satisfied with the recompense provided by the MTA, including the beloved Gorham Country Club. Worried about the trees? One will regrow for each one harvested. The cows and chickens will be just fine. They’ve been living by highways since the 1950s.

Let the MTA allow traffic to flow with a safe, self-funded toll road and alleviate the stress on our Main Streets and backroads. Population growth west of Portland is a fact that will not stop. Each year Gorham approves 100 new housing units. How’s this going to work with last century’s infrastructure? No more studies, no more surveys, no more meetings. Now is the time to build the Gorham Turnpike Connector, by eminent domain if necessary. This is clearly in the best interest of southern Maine’s populace.