This Act would authorize the State to issue general obligation bonds in an amount not to exceed eighty-five million dollars ($85,000,000), to raise funds for a variety of projects as described below. The bonds would run for a period not longer than 10 years from the date of issue and would be backed by the full faith and credit of the State.

Proceeds from the sale of these bonds would be administered by the Department of Transportation and used for the following purposes:

Highways, secondary roads and bridges –Sixty-eight million dollars ($68,000,000) would be expended to:

*construct, reconstruct or rehabilitate state highways that have been designated as Priority 1, 2 or 3 by the Department of Transportation in accordance with state statute (23 M.R.S. § 73(7));

*repair secondary roads in partnership with municipalities pursuant to the existing Municipal Partnership Initiative program; and

*replace and rehabilitate bridges.

Municipalities are required to contribute 50% or more of the project costs under the Municipal Partnership Initiative program. Highway and bridge projects are matched with federal funds on a ratio of 1.1 to 1 (federal to state) dollars. Accordingly, these bond proceeds are expected to leverage approximately seventy-five million dollars ($75,000,000) in federal and local matching funds.

Multi-modal projects–Seventeen million dollars ($17,000,000) would be spent on a variety of projects, including facilities, equipment and acquisition of property related to ports, harbors, marine transportation, aviation, railroads (both passenger and freight), transit (public transportation) and bicycle and pedestrian trails. The intent is to fund projects that preserve public safety or otherwise demonstrate high economic value in terms of transportation. The investment of these bond proceeds is expected to be matched by approximately forty-six and a half million dollars ($46,500,000) in federal, local and private funds.

If approved, the authorization of these bonds would take effect 30 days after the Governor’s proclamation of the vote.

A "YES" vote approves the issuance of up to eighty-five million dollars ($85,000,000) in general obligation bonds to finance the activities described above.

A "NO" vote disapproves the bond issue in its entirety.