New Turnpike Headquarters Gets Last-Minute Approval

By TESS NACELEWICZ Staff Writer —

Construction on the Maine Turnpike Authority’s new headquarters building was delayed and the low bid for the project was in jeopardy last week, as the state questioned whether the facility still made sense under Gov. John Baldacci’s new plan to explore uniting the turnpike authority and the Maine Department of Transportation.

However, on Thursday – just a day before the $11.4 million low bid for the project was about to expire – the Maine Department of Transportation signed off on the new administration building, saying there’s still a need for it even if the two transportation agencies merge or their administrations are streamlined.

The bid by Wright-Ryan Construction Inc. of Portland is more than $2 million below the $13.5 million projected cost of the building, which will be located next to the turnpike interchange near the Portland International Jetport.

Now construction is expected to begin in November and the new facility probably will open in January 2009 instead of the fall of next year, according to the turnpike authority’s spokesman.

"We’re back on track," Dan Paradee said Friday.

The turnpike authority says the new headquarters will improve public access, create efficiencies and save money on rent.

It will enable the authority to consolidate operations under one roof for not only its own administrative staff but for its E-ZPass customer service center and the Maine State Police troop that patrols the turnpike. Those operations are currently in three separate buildings on Riverside Street in Portland and in a fourth building off the turnpike. The turnpike pays rent for two of the buildings.

Construction was due to start on the new administration building on Oct. 5, but the turnpike authority told the contractor on Oct. 4 that work on the project was suspended.

Although all other permits for the project were in place, the Maine Department of Transportation had not signed off on it.

The Maine Turnpike Authority is an independent state agency that operates the Maine Turnpike, which runs from Kittery to Augusta. It gets no state or federal funds. Instead, its revenue comes solely from tolls and other income it generates, such as rent it derives from its service plazas.

However, the state has some oversight over the turnpike authority. For example, the state must approve all turnpike construction projects, said Deputy Commissioner of Transportation Greg Nadeau.

The job of signing off on such projects falls to Nadeau, who sits on the turnpike authority’s board of directors, representing the transportation department.

Nadeau said he joined the board when it voted last year to approve the new administration building and also to award the bid earlier this fall.

However, he said that when the contract arrived in his office on Oct. 3 or 4, the transportation department and the governor’s office decided to give the plan extra scrutiny.

The contract arrived for approval just after the governor clashed with the Legislature’s Transportation Committee and the turnpike authority over a plan for the authority to study the possibility of adding tolls to Interstate 95 north of Augusta and to Interstate 295, which runs from Scarborough to West Gardiner. On Sept. 26, the committee authorized the turnpike authority to do the $40,000 study – which the turnpike said it would pay for – to explore tolls as a way to raise funds to repair state roads and bridges.

However, Baldacci immediately said no tolls would be imposed on the interstate while he was governor.

Last Wednesday, the turnpike authority told the Transportation Committee it had dropped the plan to do the study, citing the governor’s opposition to it. The next day, Nadeau signed off on the administration building.

But Nadeau said there was no connection between the two events. "I understand the temptation to connect those dots, but they really are two completely separate issues," he said.

Instead, he said, the administration building got extra scrutiny because it’s a unique project for the turnpike authority and because of the governor’s recently stated desire to look at the possibility of merging the Department of Transportation and the turnpike authority to realize administrative efficiencies. Baldacci publicly revealed that plan shortly before the toll study was authorized.

After reviewing plans for the new facility, Nadeau said, the administration determined that "even under a new business model … the building of that facility would continue to be needed."

Paradee said the turnpike authority no longer plans to have a public art project in the new building.

The turnpike authority earlier this year paid New York artist William Wegman $102,000 for three photographic murals for its service plazas. The artist, who has connections to Maine, is known for photographs of his Weimaraner dogs.

However, Paradee said public art won’t be included in the new facility because it won’t get as much use from the general public as the service plazas do.

Maine has a Percent for Art law, which requires state-funded building projects to reserve 1 percent of the budget for original artwork. But the turnpike is not required to follow the law because it doesn’t receive state funding.

Staff Writer Tess Nacelewicz can be contacted at 791-6367 or at:

tnacelewicz@pressherald.com

(c) 2007 Portland Press Herald. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.