YORK - Maine's Right to Know Advisory Committee has unanimously agreed to examine a law that prohibits members of the public from accessing information relating to engineering estimates for highway construction projects under the Maine Turnpike Authority and Maine Department of Transportation.
Rep. Dawn Hill, D-York, made the request due to concern about a provision in Maine statute that prohibits public access to certain information relating to engineering estimates of costs for projects that involve the MTA or DOT.
She explained that this provision came to her attention during the process of filing a freedom of access request with the MTA regarding its proposed construction of a new toll plaza in York.
Hill said the Right to Know Committee's decision is good news because it effectively means that the review of this public access exception will occur this year rather than three years from now, as it had been previously scheduled.
Hill noted that in the ongoing York effort to address concerns about a plan to relocate the toll plaza that would include the possible taking of multiple homes, questions on costs and estimate data from local authorities and residents have not been responded to by the MTA.
"I am pleased that the committee agreed to review the statutory exemption," Hill said following the committee's decision. "Right now there is a significant public interest involving the operations of the Maine Turnpike Authority. Many York residents have questions regarding the MTA and the engineering firm that it uses exclusively. I think the committee recognized that this was a timely issue which should be reviewed sooner rather than later by the committee."
Meanwhile, York's Think Again and local officials continue to work on an effort to ensure that any reconstruction of the York Toll Plaza does not result in the taking of homes or land. Additional public meetings will be announced as they are scheduled.
