Why in the World is There No Traffic Light at This intersection?

Traffic lights. They're always where you don't want them and never where you do in Maine. This intersection though needs one badly and here's why.

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 south bound 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 of right. The on ramp of I-295 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 3pm 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 break down lane on the wrong side of the road to pass all the backed up cars and force his way onto Desert Road. That should't have to happen.

We're not sure who we need to talk to talk to put a traffic light in here. Desert Road should be the town's responsibility, but with an intersection with I-295 likely would involve the Maine DOT. Whoever it is, this needs to happen now to keep traffic flowing, avoid frustration, and keep people from doing what the guy in front of me did and potentially creating a dangerous situation.