Question 1: What is the state spending on its bridges?

 

The Maine Department of Transportation has a three-year work plan spanning 2024 to 2026. It’s worth $4.7 billion. That’s almost twice as much as the previous plan from 2020-2022.

 

Roughly $1 billion is going to projects besides highways and bridges: walking trails, airports, ferries and more.

 

But Maine has more work to do on its bridges than almost anywhere else, and that’s been allocated only $846.2 million.

 

Of the 2,518 bridges in the state, 388, or 15.4 percent, are classified as structurally deficient by the Federal Highway Administration. 

 

That means one of its four main components (deck, superstructure, substructure and culverts) got a grade of 4/10 or worse.

 

(Of the 10 most traveled structurally deficient bridges, five are in Cumberland County, but that’s outdated; includes I-295 bridges that recently were improved.)

 

 

Question 2: How do Maine’s bridges compare to the rest of the country?

 

There’s only three states with a higher rate of bridges that need repairs. Iowa, West Virginia, South Dakota

 

Overall New England has a lot of bridges in need of repairs. Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Massachusetts are also in the bottom 15.

 

The best are states like Nevada, Arizona, Texas where only 1% of bridges need repairs.

 

 

Question 3: Does the rest of Maine’s highway system need repairs?

 

When we zoom out and look at Maine’s full highway system, not just bridges, things look a bit better.

 

The Reason Foundation ranks states every year based on the cost effectiveness of their highways: the condition of the roads vs how much money the state spends on them.

 

Last year Maine was ranked No. 32. This year they jumped all the way to a No. 21 ranking.

 

A big reason was the pavement condition on the 8,800 miles of state highways. The DOT’s three-year plan invested $794 million for paving roads, and it’s paying off. The pavement condition on urban roads is 6th best in the nation and rural roads are 3rd.

 

And maybe the best part is that drivers in Maine spend only seven hours per year stuck in traffic. That’s better than every state except North Dakota.

 

 

Question 4: What other costs go into our highway system?

 

The Reason Foundation has Maine ranked at No. 11 in the country for administrative disbursements, better than any other New England state. That’s what the state’s transportation agency spends on salaries, pensions, office space and supplies, 

 

Nationwide, states are spending $6,308 on these administrative costs for each mile of road. In Maine, it’s only $2,652 per mile.   

 

MaineDOT Commissioner Bruce Van Note makes $160,000, and 59 others at Maine DOT make six figures. But Massachusetts is paying up to $248,000, Pennsylvania up to $198,000.

 

There’s also almost 1,400 former Maine DOT employees that earned pensions of $24,000 or more last year.