The following items are excerpted from the Aug. 21, 2008 edition of The Current

New barrier would block traffic noise

When Diane and Peter Jamieson moved into their brand-new home on Hobart Street in 1972, there were woods behind their house. Today there’s a four-lane highway.

Retail growth in South Portland has come at a price for homeowners near Interstate 295 where it exits at the Maine Mall. Traffic volumes are among the highest in Maine, with constant noise from vehicles exceeding federal safety limits for residents whose back yards abut the highway between Exits 3 and 4.

After years of lobbying from neighbors and local leaders, the

Maine Department of Transportation has agreed to install a so- called “sound barrier” to muffle highway noises. The concrete or wood wall will be 3,400 feet long and up to 20 feet high in some areas. It will be installed within the city’s existing right of way, near a fence that currently separates residential yards from the interstate.

The wall will cost about $1.5 million and likely be installed in 2008, if neighbors approve the plan. The money will come from state and federal highway funds.

On the Run. Cape landmark debuts $1M makeover

When Gregg Jones’ father opened a gas station on the South Portland and Cape Elizabeth border in 1948, motoring was much more of an adventure than it is today.

You could pile all your kids, the neighbors’ kids, a couple of dogs and a couple of bottles of wine in the car and head for the beach, without a worry about OUI checkpoints or proper car-seat installation. You didn’t have to worry about picking up dinner on the way home, either, because chances are, you had your own garden and milkman.

The one thing you did have to worry about was your car actually making it to the beach, since there were no “check engine” lights and no cell phones to call for help if you found yourself stranded. Luckily, however, there were service stations every few miles – little gas stations where you could coast in with your engine belching steam or a flat tire and get patched up by a mechanic in no time. For more than half a century, Jonesey’s was one of those places.

“Years ago, it was always helpful to have a mechanic standing by,” Gregg Jones recalled. “The industry has changed … It became painfully clear as business was declining two or three years ago that I had to do something.”

“Something” turned out to be an 18-week-long renovation, completed July 28, that transformed Jonesy’s into an On the Run convenience store, complete with milk, coffee, sandwiches and perhaps most importantly, public restrooms. Previously, neither Jonesy’s nor the Cumberland Farms across the street had public facilities; the closest public bathroom was located at the back of Town Council chambers in the Town Hall.

Claims of a possibly leaking storage tank baffle town officials

Land near a one-time radio station transmission tower in Scarborough is one of hundreds of places nationwide where the Federal Emergency Management Agency believes a Cold War-era fuel storage tank could be contaminating water supplies.

FEMA announced last week that hundreds of federally owned underground fuel tanks across the nation, many of them decades old, need to be inspected for leaks of hazardous materials that could make local water undrinkable.

In Maine, FEMA is investigating tanks believed to be buried in Manchester, Augusta, Portland, Houlton, Presque Isle and Scarborough.

Decorating decision. Artistic visions for oil tanks elicit mixed response

Reaction to the top five picks to decorate oil tanks in South Port- land are as colorful and animated as the designs themselves.

A board of artists and art experts unveiled last week the five finalists for Maine’s largest and most costly public art project.

Finalists range from lightning bolts of blue, orange and steel gray to wavy bands that wrap the tanks to abstract photos of famous people that come in and out of focus depending on the vantage point. The ultra-modern art has some South Portland residents scratching their heads.

City Councilor Tom Blake, who attended the public unveiling of the proposals on Aug. 12, admits his art tastes differ from the finalists that emerged.

“While I found two to three interesting, not one of the five finalists really struck home with me,” he said. “There was too much abstract art, and personally I am not an admirer of abstract art. I was expecting more along the lines of Maine-related history, mountains, seascapes and native animals.”

Resident Michael Rumo was blunt in his assessment. He said the $1.2 million public art project “is just too expensive, and I don’t care where the money comes from. The whole thing is stupid.”