One of Maine’s top priorities is to connect everyone to high-quality broadband. Our poorest and most rural towns are at a huge disadvantage if they can’t connect to the key infrastructure of the 21st century.

So just imagine, for a moment, if a quasi-state agency announced it would build a super-capacity fiber optic broadband network for a couple of suburbs of Portland. The agency claims they’ll build more capacity than those suburbs will need for decades. Oh, and it will cost a ton of money – dwarfing any other federal contribution to Maine’s infrastructure. So much that the state won’t have anything left for the worse connected communities, poorer rural towns and small cities where there’s “less demand.” They’ll get zip.

I’m pretty sure this idea would not go over well.

Fortunately, Maine’s not making such an unbalanced choice on broadband. However, we are at risk of making just such an overinvestment in last century’s infrastructure.

Last week, the Maine Turnpike Authority announced its plans for a wildly expensive highway from Gorham to Portland. The MTA won’t even say how much it thinks it will cost, but estimates from a decade ago were as high as $240 million. It’s a safe bet the Gorham highway will dwarf the public investments we are making in broadband statewide. Even at that low figure, the cost – $30 million per mile and $15,000 per driver served – is nearly five times what Maine Connectivity Authority is spending to connect homes to world-class broadband.

And the MTA’s own feasibility study for the highway said it won’t resolve traffic without investing in public and active transportation and land use reform.

Still, the Turnpike Authority plows are aiming for Smiling Hill Farm.

Meanwhile, we are a year away from the kickoff of $272 million in federal broadband investments. That money will connect those Mainers with the worst connectivity conditions but will fall short of what we will need to get all of us onto future-proof technology. Congress is also letting internet subsidies to low-income internet subscribers expire, cutting off 100,000 Maine households. When we overspend on suburban highways, there’s not enough left over for the infrastructure that benefits us all.

A mountain of evidence has shown that new highways actually incentivize driving, induce sprawl, destroy nearby land values, divide communities, increase road deaths, reduce air quality and raise the cost of all other public goods. We know that options for public transportation, safe routes to walk and bike, and great broadband are the investments that reduce congestion by removing drivers who don’t want to drive. Highways do the opposite – sprawling development increases the socialized cost of delivering broadband (as well as power, water, sewer, schools, buses and everything else).

The investment case for broadband is far clearer and more equitable than the case for highways. Broadband actually pays dividends for communities and people – it reduces unnecessary trips, increases economic opportunities, and connects people to education, customers and health care. We will keep making this case.

Yes, the MTA says that its highway expansion will be paid for by charging us more tolls. If the Turnpike Authority is making more than it knows how to spend effectively, we should flex those funds to other connectivity infrastructure, as many states do. For the price of 5 miles of highway to shave a few minutes off some folks’ suburban commutes, we could connect hundreds of thousands of Mainers to a better future. We can do a lot better than this.

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