"Positive Changes Made to Local Road Assistance".

Dufour

Augusta, MA: Maine Townsman, July 1999, pp. 8-11.

Kate

This article focuses on the restructuring of Maine's Local Road Assistance Program (LRAP) which reimburses municipalities for maintaining and improving local road infrastructure. The original LRAP was unable to provide the funding necessary to offset the increasing costs of maintaining, repairing, and reconstructing Maine's local roads. This was due in large part to the fact that LRAP was funded through bonds, thereby leaving the fate of the program in the hands of Maine's voters. The restructured LRAP program created a new funding mechanism consisting of an indexed formula based on a percentage of the Department of Transportation's (DOT) total transportation related budget. This change enabled total LRAP funds to increase as the DOT's budget increased. A floor of $19.5 million was enacted so that when DOT's budget declined, the LRAP program would be protected. The enhanced LRAP program accomplished a great deal in providing local municipalities a way to maintain and improve Maine's network of 22,636 miles of road. For more information on how the restructured LRAP will impact your state aid allocation for roads, contact Kate Dufour at 800/452-8786.