MEASURE TO FUND IMPROVEMENT OF MAINE ROADS RECEIVES A PUBLIC HEARING
Senator Mazurek sponsors bill to authorize a GARVEE bond for bridge and highway repair
AUGUSTA- Senator Ed Mazurek (D-Rockland) will introduce a measure to authorize a Grant Anticipation Revenue Vehicle (GARVEE) bond to fund improvement of Maine highways and bridges.
“Now is the time to repair our worn-out and decrepit roads,” said Senator Mazurek, Senate Chair of Transportation Committee. “Investing in our state’s roads and bridges will not only be good for businesses, car owners, and our safety, it will also create jobs now.”
The bill will authorize the state to issue $80 million in GARVEE bonds. These revenue bonds are financed by allocating a portion of the revenues that come to Maine each year from the Federal Highway Administration, not state revenue.
“Right now we don’t even have enough funding to maintain roads in their current condition,” said Senator Mazurek. “Maine has a $150 million gap between what is required to minimally maintain our roads and what we actually spend on our roads, and we spend the lowest per mile on our roads of New England.”
The bond money will be used by the Department of Transportation to improve the busiest roads and bridges across the state that are most in need of repair, those rated Priority 1 and Priority 2. In 2011, the Legislature enacted, at the direction of the Governor and Maine’s Department of Transportation, a goal to improve these roads to “Fair” condition or better by 2022.
“If we want to meet our goal by 2022, we have to secure funding now and put Mainers to work improving our crumbling infrastructure,” added Senator Mazurek.
In December, the American Society for Civil Engineers graded Maine’s infrastructure a C-. Maine motorists spend an average of $299 per year in extra vehicle costs because of road our conditions, and Maine’s driving fatality rate has consistently been the highest in New England.
“Bridges have a lifespan of about 80 years,” said Senator Mazurek. “And we have a lot of neglected aging bridges. The longer we wait to make repairs and the longer we postpone maintenance projects, the greater the cost will be.”
The public hearing for the bill, LD 429, “An Act To Authorize a GARVEE Bond for the Repair of Deficient Arterial State Highways and Bridges,” will be Friday, May 3 at 9:00 a.m. before the Transportation Committee in room 126 of the State House.