Like many toll facilities, the Maine Turnpike Authority has operated throughout its history in a political environment in which opinions regarding the very concept of a user fee highway sway from appreciative to disdainful, depending on the particular project or issue at hand. This volatility and the fact that toll facilities are enormously easy political targets has made it difficult for agencies to pursue important long-term initiatives and improvements without fearing that the tide may soon turn, causing projects to be disrupted and resources to be lost. The Maine Turnpike Widening project had been subjected to nearly 30 years of punishing political tidal shifts, resulting in two statewide referendums and several costly starts and stops. Having finally received statewide voter approval to move forward the Turnpike Authority was determined to advance the project in a way that would not only relieve public anxieties about the project at hand, but would strengthen public confidence and trust in the Authority's ability to undertake future projects and initiatives.