Trains, planes and Aroostook’s economic future
PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Officials with the Maine Better Transportation Association hosted their annual Aroostook County meeting Aug. 2 at the Northeastland Hotel, featuring three guest speakers: Nate Moulton, director of rail for Maine DOT; Scott Wardwell, director, Northern Maine Regional Airport in Presque Isle; and Jay Kamm, senior planner for NMDC. Welcoming those in attendance was Jim Hanley, president of the MBTA, with the Hon. Charles Theriault (D-Madawaska), House chair of the Maine Legislature’s Joint Standing Committee on Transportation, serving as moderator.
“Whether it’s the roads you drive on, marine, rail or airport you use, transportation is critical to all our lives. It’s important to The County and we need to improve them,” said Theriault.
Each speaker used a PowerPoint presentation, while discussing their topic of expertise, beginning with Moulton’s rail update.
Moulton credited “the people and businesses here who rallied and showed they could make it happen” for helping to rejuvenate the rail system in northern Maine.
“Northern Maine Rail has been here three years and continues to evolve,” he said.
He gave a brief history of how the state acquired several miles of track and how NMR has made use of the line.
“Saving the rail was important to businesses and shippers. State ownership was a means to an end to support business like all transportation does,” said Moulton. “If one thing succeeds, all ships rise.”
Moulton said with increased speeds possible following rail upgrades, NMR continues to increase service to northern Maine and New Brunswick.
“Traffic has grown. We began with 100 cars a week and now average 302. By fall we’ll average over 400,” said Moulton. “We move a lot of wood fiber. Folks need to move a lot to make a living up here.”
Moulton credited over $15 million in TIGER grants for making necessary infrastructure improvements since 2011.
“There’s more capital and maintenance work to be done to keep this going,” he said.
Job creation has been another benefit with having an improved system.
“We started in 2011 with 23 employees, in 2012 we had 53, 2013 we had 51 and for 2014 we’re up to 57,” said Moulton.
Moulton said rail service continues to face challenges, including car supply and weather. He said the incident at Lac-Megantic caused an increase of traffic on the line through northern Maine but NMR was able to accommodate with some minor adjustments to scheduling, etc.
Moulton discussed Maine’s Industrial Rail Access Program (IRAP) which encourages economic development and increased use of rail transportation. He said IRAP was one method NMR was working to secure funding for various projects.
Next, Wardwell provided an update on air service in northern Maine, including in Presque Isle, Houlton, Caribou and Frenchville. He discussed the difference in size between airports and how NMRA is better suited for larger aircraft. The airport manager discussed runway maintenance and how funding is obtained through the Federal Aviation Administration, state and municipal sources. He also talked about Essential Air Service in Presque Isle.
“The EAS program is a sort of safety net. It keeps things moving but isn’t the best system in the world. We continue to try to get additional airlines to bid the market. If business continues to climb, we could get out of EAS entirely,” said Wardwell.
Kamm was the last presenter. He began by discussing the Grow Washington/Aroostook program, funded by HUD, that he’s involved with through the Northern Maine Development Commission.
“We’re focused on job creation, modernizing infrastructure and healthy communities in Aroostook and Washington counties. One of our real goals is to bring funding to our agency for water, housing,” said Kamm.
Kamm said one of the major problems facing this region is its roads.
“The road transportation system covers roughly 1,200 miles but is not very diverse,” said Kamm.
He said logistically speaking, “it’s the long commutes that cause the high cost of living here,” noting between vehicle maintenance and fuel, a person spends a good portion of each paycheck just on travel.
“Routes 1, 1A, 161, 11 and 2 are areas we feel need to be highlighted — need MDOT funding,” said Kamm. “Other top priorities are our scenic byways: Routes 161, 11, 2, 212 and 164.”
“Preservation paving needs to be a higher priority to protect the work that’s been completed. Another issue is safety. We have a growing Amish population in southern and central Aroostook. About 100 families will be moving into southern Aroostook in the next couple years,” said Kamm, noting widening of roads could help prevent accidents between cars and buggies.
He discussed how businesses in the north shouldn’t think just north and south for moving products, but east and west on rail lines — into Canada to the west and using ships to the east.
“Better access to Eastport would improve our marketability,” said Kamm.
Kamm also spoke on the need for improved public transportation, to allow qualified employees access to jobs in other areas.
“We’re working with Dan Donovan of the ARTS program. The thought process is to develop some type of van program to bring employees to regional locations,” said Kamm.
