The Third Bridge (Route 3), which spans over the Kennebec River, was built in 2004 to relieve overcrowding on the two existing bridges over the Kennebec River. The new bridge provides a northern bypass of the City Center, relieving congestion caused by truck traffic.

Measure	Pre project	Post project	Change	% Change
Personal Income Per Capita	23,937.10	33,401	9,463.90	0.40%
Economic Distress	1	1	0	N/A
Number of Jobs	40,343	41,049	706	0.02%
Business Sales (in $M's)	1,040,360,000	999,188,000	-41,172,000	-0.04%
Tax Revenue (in $M's)	25,896,700	2,084.06	-25,894,615.94	-1.00%
Population	18,556	18,345	-211	-0.01%
Property Value (median house value)	113,778	139,872	26,094	0.23%
Density (ppl/sq mi)	335	331	-4	-0.01%

Measure	Pre project	Post project	Change	% Change
Personal Income Per Capita	38,286.90	33,401	-4,885.90	-0.13%
Economic Distress	0.85	1	0.15	0.18%
Number of Jobs	75,269	78,834	3,565	0.05%
Business Sales (in $M's)	2,052,360,000	1,974,150,000	-78,210,000	-0.04%
Tax Revenue (in $M's)	0	0	0	N/A
Population	117,217	120,686	3,469	0.03%
Property Value (median house value)	0	0	0	N/A
Density (ppl/sq mi)	135.11	139.11	4	0.03%

Measure	Pre project	Post project	Change	% Change
Personal Income Per Capita	39,100.90	35,296.10	-3,804.80	-0.10%
Economic Distress	0.82	1.03	0.21	0.26%
Number of Jobs	792,255	830,221	37,966	0.05%
Business Sales (in $M's)	17,918,900,000	17,918,900,000	0	N/A
Tax Revenue (in $M's)	0	0	0	N/A
Population	1,277,230	1,315,400	38,170	0.03%
Property Value (median house value)	0	0	0	N/A
Density (ppl/sq mi)	41.39	42.62	1.23	0.03%

Measure	Direct	Indirect	Total
Jobs	750.00	700.00	1,450.00
Income (in $M's)	32.87	30.67	63.54
Output (in $M's)	79.15	73.87	153.02

THIRD BRIDGE - ROUTE 3 AUGUSTA, ME

1.0 Synopsis

Augusta, Maine's capital has 18,500 residents and 19,000 jobs. The $34 million (2003$'s) Third Bridge, over the Kennebec River was built in 2004 to relieve overcrowding on the two existing bridges over the Kennebec River. The new bridge provided a northern bypass of the City Center, relieving congestion caused by truck traffic. This has significantly improved the environment in the city center and the neighborhoods in the northwestern quadrant of the city. Since the new bridge was constructed, investment in retail and entertainment space in the corridor has created 750 retail and restaurant jobs.

2.0 Background

2.1 Location & Transportation Connections

Augusta is located in the center of Kennebec County in southern Maine about 40 miles from the coast. The city is bisected by the Kennebec River, over which the Third Bridge is constructed. Augusta is a one-hour drive (55 miles) north of Portland. The Lewiston-Auburn metro area, Maine's chief transportation and logistics center is 40 minutes (30 miles) south. I-95 and I-295, serving commuters to and from Portland's center and its suburbs, intersect just south of Portland.

I-95 connects Augusta with Maine's Downeast Coastal resorts and with Boston (135 miles, 3 hours) and runs north to the New Brunswick Border (200 miles, 3 hours). Eastern Maine Railroad and Central Maine Railroad run freight connections to Madison, and Bath, ME. Greyhound and Concord commuter buses provide peak service to Boston. Fuelled largely by demand from state officials, US Air has 7 daily flights to Boston (1 hour, $200) from Augusta State Airport.

2.2 Community Character & Project Context

In 2000, there were more jobs in Augusta than people -- 19,000 jobs compared with 18,500 residents. A significant amount of commuting occurs between Augusta, Lewiston-Auburn, and Portland. Unemployment rates in the County are generally consistent with rates elsewhere in the State of Maine, and about 1.6 percentage points lower than the national average. The majority of employment opportunities in Augusta are found in healthcare, public administration and retail.

As the capital of Maine and seat of state government, Augusta has Maine's largest concentration of government employment. The Governmental activities are supported by financial institutions, law firms, and consultants. Health care institutions in the region also account for a large share of service sector employment.

Augusta has a significant cluster of sizeable private employers including Central Maine Power Company, who serves customers throughout the state; and SCI Systems, where computer peripherals are produced. Microdyne, a technology services company, has a facility here. As a result of its central Maine location, Augusta is a major regional distribution center. The city has traditionally been a market center for the surrounding rural areas. This role has strengthened recent years. Retail sales have doubled in the past decade.

3.0 Project Description & Motives

Planning for the Third Bridge began in the early 1990s, as a way of reducing congestion within the city of Augusta, diverting truck traffic, reducing pollution, and improving safety. The four-lane, 0.2 mile Third Bridge across the Kennebec River, completed in 2004, was built to relieve congestion on Augusta's other two Bridges which are south of the Third Bridge (Calumet and Memorial Bridges). The bridge also provides a northern bypass for the city center. As part of the project, Route 3 was extended to span 3.2 miles between I-95 and Route 202. In the middle of the expansion is the Third Bridge, a 0.2 mile long structure with two lanes in each direction.

4.0 Project Impacts

4.1 Transportation Impacts

4.2 Demographic, Economic & Land Use Impacts

The full impacts of The Third Bridge are still unfolding. In addition to diverting truck traffic from the city center, the Third Bridge decreased travel time between eastern Augusta and I-95, improving access to coastal communities. The removal of long haul truck traffic from city center streets has improved the pedestrian environment and has attracted investment in new retail and entertainment uses. This has prompted the city to develop a plan to transform Augusta into a vibrant capital city with mixed-use development including townhouses along the river, restaurants, walkways, and specialty retail.

Since the construction of the Third Bridge, MarketPlace at Augusta, a power center anchored by Home Depot and Kohl's, expanded, creating 750 new jobs. According to one of the developers, Maine DOT would not have permitted this expansion unless roadway capacity constraints were relieved by the construction of the Third Bridge.

Since completion of the project, Augusta Crossing, a 460,000 square feet open-air shopping center on the Western Avenue and I-95 has been opened 6 miles south of the new Third Bridge, with 700 jobs. The bridge may have affected the choice of this location for the shopping center, but the new jobs are not considered to be directly attributable to the project. Overall, between 2003 and 2006, retail employment in Kennebec County increased 7.8 percent and total employment as a whole increased 3.7 percent.

The city of Augusta has rezoned some key parcels of land on sites created by the Bridge and the extended Route 3. The area within one-third of a mile of the bridge has been zoned for commercial development. The sites created by the rezoning with allow for the relocation of auto-serving businesses, like gas stations, repair shops, and car sales lots, and other related businesses.

Property values in Augusta have increased, especially those on the east part of Augusta, partly because of access improvements to I-95. For example, before the construction of the Third Bridge, a trip from Riggs Brook Village, on the east side of the bridge, to I-95 would take about 30 minutes. After the Third Bridge construction, the same trip takes 5 minutes.

5.0 Non-Transportation Factors

Two regulatory changes may have influenced achievement of project benefits. In 2010, Congress passed a bill increasing truck weight limits from 80,000 lbs. to 100,000 lbs on I-95 north of Augusta. Prior to 2010, trucks over 80,000 lbs had to exit I-95 at Augusta and travel through the city of Augusta. However, with the new legislation, the Third Bridge can be used for those higher weight vehicles. Second, access to Route 3 is limited to I-95, Routes 104, 201 and 202, which precludes the development of strip malls along the Third Bridge corridor. This restriction bolsters the city's plans for downtown redevelopment.

6.0 Resources

6.1 Citations

Airport IQ: http://www.gcr1.com/5010web/airport.cfm?Site=AUG

Augusta Crossing:www.nedevelopment.com/portfolio/downloads/Augusta.pdf

Bicycle Tourism in Maine ? Economic Impacts and Marketing Recommendations: www.maine.gov/mdot/opt/pdf/biketourismexecsumm.pdf

Guilford Rail System website: http://www.guilfordrail.com/Maps/map.htm

Kennebec Valley Council of Governments. ?Kennebec Valley Regional Transportation Assessment 2005?. 2005. www.kvcog.org/Planners/Transportation%20System/RNA%20draft.pdf

KV Transit website: http://www.kvcap.org/trans-kvtransit.php

New England Environmental Finance Center, ?A Brief History of Maine Rural Development Policy? 2007

New England Environmental Finance Center, ?Augusta, ME: The New Bridge Begets a New Planned Neighborhood.? August 2006

The City of Augusta, ?City of August 2007 Comprehensive Plan. Volume One: Strategy.? January 2008. http://augustame.govoffice3.com/

The City of Augusta, ?City of August 2007 Comprehensive Plan. Volume Two: Inventory.? January 2008. http://augustame.govoffice3.com/

U.S. Census website: www.census.gov

Wikipedia,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augusta,_Maine

6.2 Interviews

Organization

Kennebec Valley Chamber of Commerce MarketPlace Shopping Center NRF Distributors Office of Economic & Community Development City of Augusta Traffic Analysis Section, Maine DOT

Footnotes

Case Study developed by Cambridge Systematics

Project: Third Bridge (Route 3)

Summary:

Characteristics and Setting:

Geography

Timing

Costs

Pre/Post Conditions:

Select a region to display the conditions for that region:

Local

County(ies)

State

County Impacts

Case Location:

Narrative: