Freeport Intersection Finally Gets Much Needed Traffic Light

Well it's about time! If you hit his busy intersection in Freeport at the right time, you may find yourself sitting there just waiting to find an opening to pull out into traffic. Soon, that will change as the Maine DOT has finally installed a traffic light.

The intersection in Freeport on Desert Road gets so much traffic during commutes that you can wait for five minutes just to get through it. That's about how long it took me to get on Desert Road coming off the southbound off-ramp of I-295.

Traffic comes and goes in six different directions here. You have the southbound off-ramp of I-295 with a fork to turn left or right. The on-ramp of I-295 in both directions of Desert Road and traffic coming in from Hunter Road, all in one little 100-foot or so section of road.

What happens, starting around 3 p.m. and lasting through the entire commute home, is that traffic backs up to turn left onto the southbound I-295 on-ramp. On Tuesday, I was coming in on the southbound off-ramp to turn onto left onto Desert Road on my way to Route 1 and the line of cars waiting to get on the highway was ten deep as traffic streamed from my right to head to downtown Freeport.

The wait became so long, that the guy in front of me turned left and traveled in the breakdown lane on the wrong side of the road to pass all the backed up cars and force his way onto Desert Road. That shouldn't have to happen, and now it won't anymore.

It took a new apartment complex to be constructed just 100 yards from the intersection to have a traffic light installed.

With yet another source of traffic to enter the intersection, the new traffic lights will finally put some order to this chaotic dance of cars.

The lights aren't functioing yet and will likely be activated once the apartment complex opens up to tennants, but our long traffic nightmare on Desert Road will finally come to an end.