MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • March 28, 2021
just as Mainers reacted to changes to the national economy in the decades after World War II by buying cars and building roads and houses in what used to be woods and fields, today’s planners are looking ahead how to manage the forces that are changing our state – whether we want it to change or not. An optimistic view of that future is the focus of a study called “Transit Tomorrow,” released last week and put together by the Greater Portland Council of Governments. The region’s first-ever strategic transportation plandescribes a 30-year vision of a fast-growing region with a bigger share of its population settled in affordable, walkable neighborhoods that are connected by fast and reliable public transportation, either bus or rail. Many of the challenges the plan addresses fit the state’s other metro areas as well. We may not be able to stop the forces that are transforming Maine, but we can make sure that we are ready to meet them.