The Maine Turnpike Authority recently announced it is dropping its plans for a 5-mile, four-lane, elevated toll highway that would run from I-95 with multiple interchanges paving over local landowners who are opposed to MTA taking their land, including Smiling Hill Farm.

The limited support for MTA’s plan was based on grossly exaggerated benefits and blatant disregard for the enormous costs associated with this proposed highway. MTA’s auditors have found that the connector would not pay for itself, and instead require toll increases throughout MTA’s network.

Forty-thousand Americans die each year in car accidents; Gorham sees few fatalities because we have few multi-lane, high-speed roads. MTA’s traffic projections suggest that its proposed expansion would dramatically increase the amount of high-speed traffic revving up Route 114 through Gorham village. Those drivers’ destinations are elsewhere, and MTA’s highway would make it easier for nearby residents to leave our village businesses behind.

Gorham residents cannot pay their rising property taxes with a few minutes saved on a daily commute. The more we force everyone to spread out, the more we increase our costs of living for our housing, transportation, utilities, and road maintenance. Highway-oriented development does not generate enough property tax revenue to pay for the enormous costs of servicing that sprawling expansion in perpetuity. Instead of forcing Gorham to compete in a limited market for big box stores and trucking warehouses, Gorham’s leaders should be focusing on our community’s strengths.

Gorham has great schools (preschool through post-grad) that attract talent for local businesses. Gorham’s generational farms, trails and open spaces are the reasons why many of us choose to live here. Our village center is our competitive advantage, and we can foster organic growth in our village while protecting our rural lands. Let’s work together to build a community that doesn’t need MTA’s highway.

Lou Simms
Gorham Town Councilor