NEW GLOUCESTER – Penny Lincoln, owner of Link’s Variety on Route 100 in New Gloucester, is a shrewd businesswoman.

Predicting a rise in Route 100 traffic that could result when the Maine Turnpike Authority introduced a wave of toll increases on Nov. 1, Lincoln spent Oct. 31 changing the sign outside her establishment to read: “Skip the toll, small coffee, breakfast pizza, $3.”

Lincoln, like many in Gray and New Gloucester, has her eyes set on the commuting motorists avoiding the New Gloucester barrier toll – which rose from $1.75 to $2.25. But people in the area are of two minds. While some residents and officials worry the increase in traffic will stress local resources, Lincoln, who has owned the store since 2008, is among those who hope the change will bring more customers to Route 100.

“Obviously, the toll between Auburn and Gray is already high and they increased it again so we figured we’d take full advantage of the fact people are going to get off in Auburn to avoid the toll,” Lincoln said. “Why not have them stop here to increase our business?”

In addition to the increase in New Gloucester, the Gray toll has also risen 50 cents to $1.50. Some motorists may skip the turnpike altogether as a result of the toll increases, but southbound motorists who pay to get back on in Gray ultimately do not save money using Route 100 to circumvent the New Gloucester tollbooth.

However, the savings become acute in the afternoon commute. Northbound motorists can avoid the New Gloucester toll by exiting at Gray, driving Route 100 for a dozen miles to re-enter the turnpike at the Auburn entrance, which also has no charge.

That northbound arrangement is seen as a boon by some and a nuisance by others in the Gray-New Gloucester community.

“Yes, I do think it’s going to impact us,” said New Gloucester Selectman Nat Berry. “I think we’re going to see more traffic. I think it’s going to be an impact on our roads in Gray and New Gloucester, and I think New Gloucester is going to be impacted heavily, especially along the Route 100 corridor, particularly with tractor-trailers because they’re getting hit very hard by the increase.”

Christina Gray, who has owned Mario’s Italian Restaurant in New Gloucester for 29 years, says she’s already seen an increase in Route 100 traffic. Like the owner of Link’s Variety, she expects it’ll be good for business.

“I have noticed the traffic has increased. I think that people are more conscientious of any [price] increase at all in anything,” she said. “If they skip the toll and come up Route 100 it absolutely is good for business.”

Nikki Dorrington, manager at Link’s, is equally optimistic.

“We’d like to bring people in. If they’re traveling a different route, why not stop in to a different place? We’re already very busy, but I think it’ll bring new clientele into the store,” she said.

Berry says he hopes the diversion of traffic to Route 100 will spur the local economy, but he isn’t holding his breath.

“If they’re trying to avoid a barrier toll, they’re not thinking about stopping to get something to eat,” Berry said. “My gut feeling is they’re going to go past a lot of these businesses, unless they say, well, I’ll stop for a cup of coffee. I’m hopeful, but to be honest with you, I think it’s going to be more negative than positive.”

Another local official, Richard Barter, a town councilor in Gray and member of the Community Economic Development Committee, is likewise skeptical the diversion of traffic will benefit local business activity. He thinks it may even hurt Gray Center, which is already clogged with vehicles, especially at peak commute times.

“The Gray Town Council is very committed to restoring the village for it to become a business center with shops. But for people to come down and to be caught in that mass of traffic, it’s going to discourage people from coming into that part of town,” Barter said. “So it’s a very real concern for us. It impacts economic development. It adds to the congestion of our downtown area. It causes a hardship for the residents of our town, and ultimately it’s going to cost the town of Gray more money to maintain a state highway because a private highway is making it desirable to get off in Gray, to circumvent a toll, and to get back on in Auburn.”

The town of Gray last year took over maintenance duties for its section of Route 100, about 10 miles worth as it makes a bee-line from Gray’s southern border with Cumberland to New Gloucester. More traffic, some of it heavy truck traffic, using Route 100 means Gray taxpayers’ money will be spent on roadwork, including paving and plowing. Fortunately, according to Department of Transportation spokesman Ted Talbot, the state left the road in good condition with a recent paving treatment. But that is little consolation to Barter.

“With the Urban Compact, the town of Gray has to maintain Route 100 up to the New Gloucester town line, and you’ve got the heavier traffic pounding up that road, and that traffic is ducking paying the toll going up, and we’re caught in the crossfire,” Barter said. “It is a town burden, and it’s unfair from our perspective to ask the residents of Gray to be placed in this position.”

Gray business owners differ in whether the additional traffic in downtown will help business.

Tom Daigle, owner of Tom’s Barber Shop on Route 100 in Gray Center, doesn’t seem too optimistic.

“I would hope it would help us. It’s hard to say,” Daigle said. “I mean, if you’re already adding another half-hour to your drive because you have to get off the turnpike, they’re already in a hurry. Who’s got time to stop? Plus if there’s too much traffic in front here, you can’t get in, you can’t get out.”

Nearby business owner Rod Pooler, owner of Gray True Value hardware store, has watched for years as commercial vehicles roll northbound through town.

“We see the big trucks avoiding the tolls. We’ve seen that for years – where they get off here, drive up Route 100 to Auburn to avoid the tolls,” Pooler said. “So we’ve seen that for years and I’m anticipating we’ll see more passenger vehicles do the same as well.”

More encouraged is Mary Colangelo, owner of Maine Showroom Realty and House Arts Gallery at 3 Main St. in the heart of Gray Center. She has an up-close view of the routes 100, 115 and 26 intersection and says she needs to think of ways to improve her two businesses’ visibility to take advantage of the additional traffic.

“I figure, the more people the better. And I better have my sign out. I have a lot of people passing through here. I call it the ‘crazy intersection’ anyhow, and I should really think about what kind of signs I have out there so they know there’s a gallery here,” Colangelo said. “It can actually work in somebody’s favor. For me, being right where all the extra traffic is going to be going through, that’s a plus for me.”

Truck traffic

While passenger vehicles pay $2.25 at the New Gloucester toll, trucks, which pay by the axle, can fork over much more. But, according to two trucking firms in the area, the turnpike tolls have little effect on their routines.

Rick Lane, of Griffin Greenhouse & Nursery Supplies, located near the Gray turnpike interchange, said the company has one truck that uses the turnpike daily.

“What are you going to do? It’s just the cost of doing business today. And you’ve got to go along with it,” Lane said. “It’s not good, but infrastructure needs to be worked on and the roads have to be done over and bridges need to be done over, and it’s got to come from somewhere.”

Lane also says avoiding the toll could actually be more expensive.

“When you’ve got a commercial truck and you’re only getting 7 or 8 mpg it’s not cost-effective to start going around stuff,” he said. “When you take a big truck off the highway, you don’t know what you’re going to run into – the traffic pattern or bad roads, low bridges, overweight [issues].”

Barry Marchand, safety director at Yarmouth Lumber, located south of Gray Village along Route 100, says his firm travels regionally and can’t negotiate the left-turn at the Gray Center intersection. His drivers must use Route 100 to join the turnpike in Auburn. In the business for many years, Marchand said higher tolls means higher prices for consumers.

“As far as the general toll increase, it’s going to adversely affect every business, especially after this economic downturn,” he said. “If you add up all the costs going from here to New York City in truck tolls, you’d be surprised. But we don’t avoid the tolls, we go where we have to go.”

Headed southbound from points north, Yarmouth Lumber would exit at Gray, despite the toll increase, Marchand said.

“Being DOT-governed, we’re on a logbook and you can make it from Augusta to Gray quicker if you stay on the turnpike than you can if you get off to avoid a toll. And that might make the difference between a guy being able to get home or whether he sleeps in the truck for a night,” he said.

State response

Dan Morin, spokesman for the turnpike authority, said turnpike officials predict there will be a period of heavier use of Route 100 as drivers avoid the toll increases, but that it’ll subside.

“Historically, when toll increases happen, there’s a little bit of diversion for about two months. People who think the toll increase will adversely affect their budget tend to take alternate routes immediately after a toll increase,” Morin said. “And what we’ve seen [ever since] the turnpike’s been here, once customers realize the turnpike is much safer, it’s much higher quality and the times are much more predictable, they return to the turnpike after a couple of months, and traffic returns to what it was before the toll increase.”

Barter, who remembers discussions of the placement of the Gray toll five decades ago when the Gray interchange was built, said the town fathers at the time urged that the interchange be built somewhere other than mere yards off Gray Center, already a busy intersection back then known as the “Crossroads of Maine.” Barter wishes the turnpike authority had heeded that early advice and today urges the moving of the New Gloucester toll.

“I don’t mind being the Crossroads of Maine, but I don’t want to become the back dooryard or the back track for people avoiding a burden that has been imposed upon them. That was an economic decision made by an independent authority, the Maine Turnpike Authority,” Barter said. “And I don’t know there’s a long-term solution until that toll barrier is moved. The New Gloucester toll barrier has to be moved because as long as it’s there and you can get off and go 10 miles and get back on, you’re just encouraging people to circumvent an obstacle.”

Morin says it would cost millions to adjust the toll stations, and answers Barter saying the increase in Gray traffic should be temporary.

“We’ve heard those concerns all through the history of the turnpike, through all 12 previous toll increases. But within a certain matter of weeks, the vast majority of people who do that return to the turnpike,” Morin said.

Commercial truck traffic, which Barter said is a problem in downtown Gray and backs up traffic especially in the morning commute, could be alleviated in the future as well, Morin added.

“By next Memorial Day, the New Gloucester toll is going to be open to open-road tolling, much like the Hampton toll down in New Hampshire. By next Memorial Day, you’ll be able to go through that toll at highway speed,” Morin said. “So if a commercial truck is faced with saving $8-10 by going up Route 100, we hope that them knowing they can go through the New Gloucester toll and not slow down all the way to Augusta might be a benefit.”

Link’s Variety owner Penny Lincoln, left, and store manager Nikki Dorrington wave as vehicles roll along Route 100 in New Gloucester. They are hoping the toll increase on the Maine Turnpike will send new customers their way.   
A logging truck rolls through Gray Center last week making its way north on Route 100. Officials expect to see more traffic on Route 100 as turnpike toll increases divert motorists to secondary roads.