The first article, East-West Maine highway may be privately built toll road, is from October 23 and announces Brown’s upcoming October 29 meetings in Aroostook County. This provides a good outline of proponent talking points.
The second article, Proposed Highway To Bring Great Development, is from October 29. It includes a video with many of Brown’s powerpoint slides, which are new. One new selling point includes a multi-use recreation trail. Also of note, the reporter says that MDOT was at the table. This meeting was at Northern Maine Development Corporation, a subsidiary of Mobilize Maine.
There is a lot of information about Mobilize Maine and Eastern Maine Development Corporation in the Timeline of E/W Activity. Although Mobilize Maine and the regional development corporations say that they promote “asset-based” development, the East-West Corridor is clearly not asset-based, but rather needs-based, i.e. to fill the “hollow middle.”