Everyone should know “good enough” when they see it. The deep water pier project scheduled to be started in Portland this month fits the description.

Portland has wanted a large pier, sometimes called a “mega-berth,” for a decade so it can accommodate more than one large cruise ship at a time.

This was the driving force behind the state financed Ocean Gateway project, and it remained on the port’s to-do list after construction bids came in too high to build it back in 2005.

But now, on the eve of construction, knowledgeable people involved in the industrial waterfront are saying the project could do more if redesigned.

Instead of a floating dock only suited for handling passengers, they propose making it strong enough for trucks to load and unload heavy goods.

And they propose to pay for the enhanced berth with the $1.5 million difference between the winning bid and the $6.5 million approved by voters in last June’s bond issue.

While they are probably right that an even bigger berth would be better, the proposed plan is better than what is there now and is still valuable.

Maine has so many transportation infrastructure needs there has got to be somewhere else this money could be put to better use.

The question should not be whether the mega-berth, as proposed, could be improved on. The question should be whether what is scheduled to be built is good enough.

The pier would enhance Portland as a cruise ship port, which would bring more tourists into the city and other destinations in southern Maine.

As proposed, it would not reinvigorate the cargo ship industry, but it could be augmented at a later date to accommodate more uses.

That may not be a panacea, but it sounds better than what we have now.