Legislature enacts Highway Budget to fund Maine roads and bridges

Transportation Committee chairs celebrate the bill’s unanimous passage

AUGUSTA – The Maine Legislature recently enacted a two-year Highway Fund Budget with unanimous support. The budget, LD 274, appropriates funding to agencies responsible for the maintenance of the state’s transportation system, including the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Secretary of State’s Office. It went into effect immediately after being signed by Gov. Janet Mills on March 21. 

The main function of the Highway Fund Budget is to support the projects outlined in the Department of Transportation’s three-year work plan, which sets a strategy for the upkeep of Maine’s roads, bridges and other transportation infrastructure. The budget helps the Department fulfill its mission of supporting “economic opportunity and quality of life by responsibly providing our customers with the safest and most reliable transportation system possible.”

“Maine’s roads and bridges are the foundation of everyday life – people travel them to get to work or visit family, they carry the food that stocks our grocery stores and they connect our vast, beautiful state,” said Senate Chair of the Transportation Committee, Sen. Tim Nangle, D-Windham. “Keeping our transportation infrastructure in good repair is one of the most important responsibilities of government. I was proud to lead the effort to craft this year’s transportation budget, and I am glad the Legislature has taken action to ensure we keep this basic, yet fundamental, commitment to Maine people.”

“This unanimous, two-year transportation budget demonstrates our commitment as a state to investing in the safety of Maine people and improving the quality of life for all who live and visit here,” said House Chair of the Transportation Committee, Rep. Lydia Crafts, D-Newcastle. “It will provide important funding to repair infrastructure like state roads, maintain and replace bridges, support public transit, and clear roads of snow and ice in the winter. Through this budget, state government is delivering on one of its core responsibilities to Mainers, and I’m proud of all the work the committee did to make it happen.”

The full text of the budget can be found here, and projects contained in DOT’s three-year work plan can be found here.  

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