Puneet Varma (Editor)

Interstate 295 (Maine)

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Existed:
  
1960 – present

Constructed
  
1960

Length
  
85.47 km

Interstate 295 (Maine)

South end:
  
I‑95 / Maine Turnpike in Scarborough

North end:
  
I‑95 / Maine Turnpike in West Gardiner

Interstate 295 (I-295) is a 53.11-mile (85.47 km)-long auxiliary route in the U.S. state of Maine from I-95 in Scarborough to I-95 in West Gardiner. The highway was designated the Richard A. Coleman Highway in 2015 by the Maine Legislature.

Contents

Map of I-295, Maine, USA

Route description

Interstate 295 branches off from exit 44 of Interstate 95 (Maine Turnpike) providing access to downtown Portland, Maine, and then generally follows the Atlantic coast and Kennebec River until it merges back into I-95 in West Gardiner 52 miles (84 km) to the north at exit 103.

I-295's first exit is in South Portland, giving access to the Maine Mall (southbound) and U.S. 1 in South Portland and Scarborough (northbound); its last exit is Exit 51 (formerly Exit 28), which gives access to Gardiner. The route starts at Exit 44 (formerly Exit 6A) of I-95, and it has toll plazas just before its own Exit 1, and between Exit 51 and its northern terminus at I-95.

In 2015, the Maine Legislature unanimously voted to name the highway's entire length for Richard A. Coleman, a Maine Department of Transportation employee since 1956, who has been involved with many Maine transportation projects. He was involved in projects ranging from Maine's interstates to the Penobscot Narrows Bridge and Observatory. Coleman declined comment on the naming, only telling the Kennebec Journal that while the naming is humbling, he found it uncomfortable. Maine Sen. Roger Katz, the sponsor of the bill, said "Very few people have heard of Dick Coleman, but as he drives around the state, he must feel a great deal of pride looking at his decades of work."

1960 to 2004

From its inception in 1960 to 2004, I-295 was an 11.02-mile (17.73 km) long route branching off the Maine Turnpike/I-95 to pass through downtown Portland. Four miles north of Portland the through freeway became I-95 at the junction with the Falmouth Spur, a connector carrying I-95 westward to the Maine Turnpike (I-95 and I-495(Former) at its Exit 9.

2004 extension

In 2004, to clear up confusion, I-95 was re-designated to continue along the Maine Turnpike for its entire length. I-295 was extended past the Falmouth Spur as a redesignation of I-95, to where it merges back into the Turnpike in West Gardiner 42 miles (68 km) to the north. The 4-mile (6.4 km) long Falmouth Spur officially became I-495 but was left unsigned.

At the same time, the exits were re-numbered; previously they had been numbered more or less sequentially from south to north—there were skipped numbers, for example, there was no Exit 23. After the changes the exits re-numbered to mile-log in relation to the Scarborough junction, except for the exits in Portland and South Portland, which remained the same. Exits on Maine's I-95 were similarly re-numbered based on mileage.

Speed limits

The speed limit on Interstate 295 on the section past Tukey's Bridge to mile 51 in Gardiner was raised from 65 mph to 70 mph on May 27, 2014. This occurred as the result of a new law passed in 2013 by the Maine Legislature allowing the Maine Department of Transportation to unilaterally set speed limits on Interstate highways with the approval of the Maine State Police, instead of appealing to the Legislature.

References

Interstate 295 (Maine) Wikipedia