A recent editorial (“MDOT shouldn’t nickel-and-dime with safety,” April 25) in reference to the Maine Department of Transportation doing a great job with what they have to work with missed a key piece to the problem.
The gas tax, raised by vehicles traversing our roads, should be used exclusively for our roads and not railroads and recreation trails. Instead, they should compete for funding out of the general fund.
I am not against either railroads or recreational trails, but taking funds from the DOT for them makes no more sense than taking them from Inland Fisheries and Wildlife or from other dedicated sources of revenue. If the department had the dollars wasted on rehabbing abandoned railroad beds, rails and bridges, our roads would be in much better shape and funding wouldn’t be a huge issue.
Cal Brown
Litchfield
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