AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Maine Speaker of the House Sara Gideon is proposing a bill to authorize a bond that would make possible improvements to habitats such as rivers and streams.
Gideon, a Democrat, proposes a $5 million bond to upgrade municipal culverts at stream crossings. She says that would improve the health of fish and wildlife habitats and allow communities to prepare for weather.
Culverts allow water to flow underneath infrastructure such as roads and railways. Gideon says they're "perhaps the least visible elements of infrastructure we use every day, but roads collapse when they fail." She says most road stream crossings in the state were designed to meet standards 50 years out of date.
