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Cianbro President Proposes Maine East-West Highway

September 28, 2007 - If Peter Vigue has his way, you'll be able to get there from here, and Canadians will be able to get here from there.

The dynamic president of Cianbro Corp., a Maine business and one of the nation's largest construction companies, recently unveiled his astonishing proposal for a private toll highway across the bulging middle of Maine, from Calais to Cuburn Gore.

If you get out your DeLorme map, you'll note that this road would be a straight shot across mid-Maine, from Caiais to Old Town to Dover-Foxcroft to Bingham, although some southerners (from Cumberland and York Counties) think everything north of Augusta is northern Maine.

Interestingly enough, the same line sort of divides the prosperous southern Maine from their poor relations in the northem half of the state. And perhaps that is the point of Vigue's proposal.

The northern half of the state is tired of waiting for government solutions to its economic woes. Vigue offers, literally, a different road.

"We are not at the end of the road," Vigue told newspaper columnist Renee Ordvvay, following his breakfast speech to the Bangor Region Chamber of Commerce where he laid out his idea.

"I hear that all the time and I get so tired of it. Canadians have been the largest investors in this state for the past 10 years, and we (are) in just the right spot to connect them and their products to the rest of the world," said Vigue.

Although the state and federal governments have been studying an east-west highway for years, and Congressman Mike Michaud has been successful in getting funding for these studies into the federal budget, Vigue is properly skeptical that government can get this road built. He proposes to construct the higlivvay with private funds, recouped by tolls.

Brilliant!

The modest Vigue doesn't hesitate to note that "this is not rocket science. All you have to do is look at a map and you can see how much sense this makes from a transportation and, hence, economic point of view. And the beauty of it is the road is already there. It's pretty simple, actually, and doable."

Not a real patient man, Vigue has already talked to New York banks about financing, and reports that they gave him "the thumbs up."

He may be a bit optimistic about the simple part, but with his lead, the toll highway is doable. Check out that map again. Just north of Old Town you'll see a gravel road, Studmill Road, going all the way to Route 1 just north of Calais. The road's already there! More than a third of the Vigue Highway is in place, on private land.

Vigue says 1,000 heavy trucks travel through Calais daily and are not allowed on the interstate system. But his east-west highway wouldn't be just for trucks, or Canadians. It would simply recognize the fact that Maine is surrounded by Canadian provinces, and it would build on the effort of Access Atlantica, which is an initiative to encourage trade and economic growth in the entire region.

Miles Theeman, CEO of Affiliated Healthcare Systems of Bangor, spoke about Access Atlantica at the same Bangor breakfast, reporting, "We want to revamp our tourism image and make it regional. We talk about one vacation, two nations, but we share so much else in terms of our goals for economic development, energy, transportation, Maritimes issues."

Bingo! This is the most exciting economic development idea in the history of our state, with the potential to bring the frustrating economic woes of this region of Maine to an end.

Imagine tens of thousands of tourists, from New York, Montreal, Quebec and even the mid-western United States, traveling this super highway, exiting onto connector roads to Maine's spectacular destinations like Moosehead Lake, Baxter Park and Washington County.

And we don't have to wait for the government (or put up our own tax money) to git 'er done. "I truly believe that we've relied too long and too much on government to get things done," said Vigue. "Government officials come and go. Business is a constant, and we need to look to our own industries to get this done."

I guess the state has one other native conservative, after all. Maine born and bred, Vigue shares another of this columnist's concerns.

"I'm also a father and grandfather blessed to have his children living in Maine. Too many of my friends have children that live halfway across the country because there are not enough opportunities here."

Opportunity, however, is knocking on Maine's door. Let's hope and pray that Peter Vigue is the man who can open that door.

George Smith is executive director of the Sportsman's Alliance of Maine. He lives in Mount Vernon.

Kennebec Journal
9.5.2007

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