It seems odd that, with the huge backlog of needed road improvements, including several in Cape Elizabeth and South Portland, a brand new highway is being given serious consideration by the state transportation officials.
    Hopefully, the citizens of Maine (or at least the majority of them who bother to vote) will pass the three rounds of bond referendum recently approved by the Legislature.
    Passing those bonds will do a great deal to clear that backlog and allow the state as well as local officials to take a more proactive look at our transportation system instead of (quite literally) filling holes in the current stock of roads, bridges and railways.
    A turnpike spur connecting the western approaches to Portland, such as they are, to the system of highways, bypasses and toll roads in the immediate vicinity will make Maine a more economically viable place in which to live, work and attract new business.
    Maine's road system is too constricted to efficiently move the goods, services and people necessary in a modern economy.
    Some believe that building such a road will contribute to more sprawl by making it easier for people to choose to live further away from their jobs in the traditional population centers.
    While sprawl is one of the greatest threats to the character and vitality of Maine, it must be recognized that efficient roads do not create sprawl, it is lax local zoning and poor residential and commercial planning.
    –Ward Peck