With contractors hungry for work, the Maine Dept. of Transportation is adding tens of millions in new projects this year as it seizes a favorable pricing window opened by the pandemic and the economic downturn.

The MaineDOT is putting out to bid an additional $33.5 million in new projects, in addition to putting out to market again another $20.5 million in projects whose bids were previously rejected last year as too high.

为了帮助支付这一切，并帮助弥补在汽油税收入下降而迫在眉睫的收入下降 - 州运输官员正在7月14日在州选民面前提议的1.05亿美元债券发行。

Such bond issues are routine, annual occurrences, designed to raise money for projects slated to hit the market in the following year.

但是，今年，缅因州运输官员计划加快其支出，并将利用债券出售中的收益来支付其规定的2020年计划的扩大项目阵容。18luck官网

The state bond issue, in turn, will be matched with $275 million in federal and other funds.

“我知道一些（州）的点正在缩小，” Maineot专员Bruce Van Note说。“价格更实惠，当缅因州最需要时，我们正在雇用更多的人，而且更安全。”

总而言之，与去年的计划相比，Mainedot计划在今年出价5.225亿美元，该计划在道路，公路和桥梁上要求418luck官网.6亿美元。

实际花费可能是低,based on past practice, with $400 million actually spent last year, though even with that caveat, there is likely to be a significant increase.

The ramped-up spending has yielded an array of projects, from a $10,000 signage project to an $85 million bridge, Van Note said.

On the MaineDOT’s work list is a significant amount of repaving work, various bridge repairs and replacements, a $1.75 million intersection reconstruction in Auburn, not to mention several million dollars’ worth of runway and other work at Bangor International Airport.

到目前为止，Mainedot也从一些大量节省中受益，并在更苗条的环境中削减铅笔，从而提高工作量。

It comes after state highway officials were forced to pull back on projects last year after the bids came in too high.

Some bids were coming back 30% over budget, with contractors busy building hotels and other projects in Portland.

范诺说：“市场充满了垂直建筑。”

从那时起，投标量低于估计值，其中一项重新销售项目低于州高速公路官员预计的900,000美元。

“DOT work is not necessarily sexy or high margin, but it starts to look a lot better when some of those projects are not around,” Van Note said.

Mainedot还能够节省劳动力和其他成本的资金，随着冠状病毒后，全州的高速公路交通繁忙，有能力在白天进行道路工作。18luck.cub

流量的下降也为高速公路和小路上的工作人员提供了安全的安全性。

尽管如此，流量的下降也使Mainedot的财务状况造成了重大凹痕，该州的汽油税产生的收入显着下降。

While not as bad as first feared—more than $110 million—the upcoming $105 million bond vote on July 14 should help plug that gap.

But while some other states have put a hold on work, Maine has decided to keep pushing ahead, Van Note said.

缅因州高速公路负责人说：“每个人都从这个大流行中学到的一件事是，一旦您停止一切，重新开放就比停止更加困难。”