AUGUSTA — A proposal to add automated speed control cameras to construction zones on the Maine Turnpike took a step forward after a legislative committee advanced it Thursday.

Sen. Brad Farrin, R-Norridgewock, introduced the measure last year. It was carried over to this session and has both Democrats and Republicans as co-sponsors. The Legislature’s Transportation Committee endorsed the bill Thursday after amendments won over most skeptics, sending it to the House and Senate for floor votes.

Creating a highway camera system similar to those found in two dozen other states has drawn criticism from those who say the cameras imperil civil liberty. Proponents have said the cameras boost safety, pointing to the January deaths of two Maine Department of Transportation workers in a work zone crash on Interstate 95 in Waterville. In that crash, a driver allegedly failed to stop at an on-ramp stop sign.

Under Farrin’s measure, the Maine Turnpike Authority would run a pilot program until 2029 and select a vendor to create up to three sets of speed control systems in construction zones with workers present on the tolled section of I-95, which spans 109 miles from Kittery to Augusta.

If a vehicle exceeds the posted work zone speed limit by at least 11 mph, the camera system would capture an image of the vehicle and its license plate number. Drivers would receive an initial, mailed notice of a violation, and then a warning during the pilot. 

After a second notice, drivers would receive a $100 fine for each additional offense and could appeal a violation. Maine Turnpike Authority Executive Director Andre Briere said, however, that a three-month “pre-enforcement” period would only feature warnings as the system ramps up. 

Briere and Farrin said the flat $100 fine is an intentional move for the rollout of the program, though several lawmakers asked why it is lower than existing fines for speeding in work zones.

The proposal would also require a Maine Department of Public Safety employee to review the system’s image of a vehicle that allegedly commits a speeding violation to verify a violation occurred. Groups such as the ACLU of Maine and the conservative Maine Policy Institute have argued the systems threaten privacy and prioritize revenue over safety.

Farrin’s proposal would require vehicle owners’ personally identifiable information to otherwise remain confidential.

Farrin said Maine has seen more than 7,000 work zone crashes in the last decade. In other states with highway speed control systems, Briere said, violations have “dramatically” decreased after the initial rollout of cameras.

Numerous meetings on the bill featured concerns and questions from members on both sides of the aisle over civil liberties and state troopers enforcing the speed zone violations. An ACLU of Maine representative told lawmakers several vendors that may compete for the camera system contract have faced or are facing lawsuits over alleged due process violations.

Last summer, the Maine Department of Transportation installed cameras along stretches of I-95 and I-295 that it stressed were for tracking delays and emergencies, not for surveillance.

Jeff Stevens, a turnpike authority highway supervisor, testified last year in favor of the bill and mentioned turnpike authority employee Jeffrey Abbott, who died in 2017 after a truck hit him in a construction site on I-95 by the Portland-Westbrook line. Five traffic control trucks were also hit in 2023 and 2024, Stevens said.

“All of our lives depend on it,” Stevens said of the proposed cameras.

The Maine Turnpike Authority conducted a study that found about 88% of drivers exceeded the posted speed limit from last July to September in 13 work zones. Briere, the authority’s executive director, also noted 16 people were killed in work zone crashes between 2020 and 2024.

“This is life and death for our folks,” Briere said.