PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - Maine’s top transportation official says next year’s entire highway repair program is at risk if lawmakers don’t return to Augusta within the next two weeks and put a highway borrowing package on the November ballot.
Maine Transportation Commissioner Bruce Van Note tells the Portland Press Herald that without a bond “we are going to be in a world of hurt.”
Democratic Gov. Janet Mills’ proposed two-year, $239 million bond package includes $105 million in transportation projects. The proposed transportation money would draw $137 million in matching federal and other funds.
But Maine lawmakers failed to pass the bond package before they adjourned in June. Now transportation planners and private contractors are uncertain whether the money will come through.
The deadline to get the bond on the ballot is Aug. 30.
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