East-west highway project still on the shelf
A program manager for a proposed $2.1 billion east-west highway that would connect two Canadian provinces said the privately funded project is still alive, but not a high priority.
Darryl Brown of Cianbro Corp. told the Bangor Daily News that while the company is still passionate about what he called a much-needed project, “there are other projects that Cianbro is involved in that take precedence.”
He said the company’s only current involvement with the 220-mile highway project is assessing “where the best routing possibilities would lie” for connecting New Brunswick with Quebec, providing access to markets in the Midwest and western states and western Canada.
The newspaper noted that proponents and opponents of the controversial project consider it dormant. That includes former state Sen. Doug Thomas, R-Ripley, a supporter, who said he thinks the project is “on life support” because the opposition, which has included local businesses and several municipalities, has more enthusiasm.
Ted Talbot, spokesman for the Maine Department of Transportation, told the BDN the project “is on the same shelf it was on when it was shelved the last time,” referring to when a $300,000 feasibility study was unanimously repealed by a legislative committee in May 2013.
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