The One Maine Sight That Caused an Evil Grinch Smile to Form on My Face

You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch...

 

Look. I try to keep it as positive, light, fun, and entertaining as possible. But, honing in particularly on the positive part, keeping that up for 100% of the time, all the time, is impossible.

And SPOILER ALERT -- if there are people in your life that seem like they're 100% positive all day every day, they're lying. It's either to you or themselves, but bottom line, they're lying.

295 Maine

I've mentioned plenty of times before that if nothing makes me more cranky -- Grinchy, even -- it's pretty much driving on 295, and it's really for no other reason than left lane campers. It's to the point that I feel like we should all be equipped for a demolition derby so we can move someone out of the way going 45 mph in a 50 mph zone while driving either side-by-side or slightly slower than people in the travel lane.

But. BUT. If I'm right about what I saw driving between Brunswick and Freeport on 295 -- well, this is just going to be straight up glorious.

Maine Highway Construction

Construction projects throughout the state are no stranger to anyone -- to the point that MaineDOT runs those nature-angled orange barrel commercials on radio and TV to get the word out.

And, diving deeper into it, a good stretch of 295 between Portland and Brunswick is almost one massive construction zone in itself. To the point that a Reddit thread was created titled, Going to be blunt, I-295 from Portland to Brunswick is a $#!t show.

It's looking like relief could be on the way, though, at least on the southbound side of 295 from Brunswick to Freeport, because between Exits 28 and 22, not only are new lane shifts in place, but the grooved pavement off to the right breakdown lane has been paved over, similar to current execution in the White Mountains area of New Hampshire.

295 Brunswick to Freeport

Essentially, with the grooved pavement covered, the lane shift uses the seemingly former breakdown lane between Brunswick and Freeport to be its own travel lane, with the right lane shifting to the passing lane, and the pull off area to the left of the yellow lines being shifted, creating what is currently now an unused lane bordered by two solid yellow lines.

Don't take this as gospel just yet, especially since regardless of all the searching around done on the MaineDOT website bringing up no exact result for that stretch -- it looks very much like this is the beginning of the widening of 295 into a three lane highway.

And, if I'm correct in my assumption, there's really only one thing to say.

THANK. THE. SWEET. BABY. JEEBUS.