Dreaming of a Superhighway Across Maine

"With diesel fuel about to hit $5 a gallon and with both the Maine and U.S. governments coping with growing deficits, Peter Vigue has never been more convinced that the time to build an east-west toll road through north-central Maine is now."

"Vigue thinks routing more heavy truck traffic through Bangor and other existing communities is a mistake. His route relies almost entirely on existing rights-of-way, including largely dormant logging roads. The 2,000-foot-wide corridor would avoid communities, but would allow controlled access by hunters, fishermen and other non-commercial traffic headed to the wilderness areas the toll road would traverse.

Vigue said the proposed transportation and utility corridor needs to be 2,000 feet wide to accommodate setback requirements should the right-of-way include high-voltage power lines and gas pipelines. That width also would accommodate future construction of an east-west rail line, he said.

With an almost religious fervor, Vigue has been busy since last August, preaching the Maine East-West Toll Corridor gospel in both in Maine and in Atlantic Canada."