There’s a saying in this state – “The Two Maines.” The typical separations are the haves and have-nots, north and south, inland and rural versus coastal and populous. There’s a saying that could become appropriate to Maine: “The Two Roads.”

It’s been awhile since a state leader has risen above these divides to implement a type of united strategy. So, with the gubernatorial contest heating up, we should start testing the candidates about the critical issues that divide Maine, starting with transportation.

In a mostly rural state, it’s a challenging topic. Transportation covers so many areas: moving people, moving goods, walking, biking, automobiles, trucking and railroads. And that’s just the modes – forget about where they go, and how to pay for them.

To keep focused, let’s look at the basics: roads and bridges, the current condition of which details the inability of the current administration to promote a “one Maine” approach to paying for the building and maintaining of this infrastructure.

A long list of Maine bridges are outliving their usefulness, spring potholes annually wreck vehicle undercarriages and major sections of highways no longer meet modern safety standards. And with gasoline tax revenue not keeping pace with construction inflation, we have a problem in need of a solution. And to find solutions, you need leadership. From where, you ask?

Our next governor, to start.

What will he or she face? A transportation system seemingly funded based on political convenience, lack of vision, and maybe a little bit of “close your eyes and hope no one notices.” The most glaring example are Maine’s highways – the aforementioned “Two Roads.”

This past week, a $35.3 million repaving project was completed on I-295 between Topsham and Gardiner, funded through the generosity of stimulus money. Right now, a more than $5 million project to repave a section of I-95 between Saco and Scarborough is being funded by toll payers. In Bangor, multiple multi-million dollar I-95 bridge rehabilitation projects are being paid for through federal and state gas taxes.

On I-95 in Lewiston, bids are out to rehabilitate the bridge that sends the Turnpike over Route 196, funded by tolls. Widening I-295 between Exits 3 and 4 in South Portland? Federal earmarks and gas tax pays that bill. Widening I-95 from York to Scarborough? Tolls.

The differences should now be quite clear. One part of Maine’s highway system is self-sufficient through tolls, and leverages revenue from users to ensure modernization and maintenance. Another part is accessed for free, but needs earmarks, taxes, and stimulus money to get projects done.

Is that sound policy? Is that a “one Maine” approach?

The attempt of the current administration to unify this system was merging the two transportation agencies, the Maine Department of Transportation and the Maine Turnpike Authority. Even if that shaved positions and earned cheap political capital by sliding some Turnpike revenue into state coffers, it wouldn’t rebuild dozens of bridges at $5 million apiece or repave roads at a $1 million a mile.

Nowhere is the effect of this disjointed approach seen more than Lewiston-Auburn and Brunswick, which both need growth and sit on the highway between Portland and Augusta. One community benefits from having that same highway crossing through wealthy coastal suburbs. One benefits from a “free” road, modernized through stimulus money, earmarks and gas taxes.

The job for policymakers is to ensure we have a reliable and modern transportation system with a predictable funding source that enables long-term planning. For individuals and business owners, they need to find cost-effective transportation solutions.

When I fill up my tank to drive to Augusta or Portland, not only do I enter the Turnpike and pay my fair share for road upkeep through tolls, I get to subsidize through the gas tax the free road 20 miles away.

The typical response of Lewiston-Auburn, and other communities on the Turnpike, is how unfair it is that they pay for their road and others get it free. The answer is simple – neither road is free. The only difference is who pays to maintain it.

For my dollar or two, I will gladly pay to maintain the road I take. The question for Maine and our next Governor, though, is why should users from Bangor or the coast keep from paying to take care of theirs as well?

Jonathan LaBonte, of New Auburn, is a columnist for the Sun Journal and an Androscoggin County Commissioner. E-mail: [email protected].