Heavy volume of holiday travelers will wave a final goodbye to Maine Turnpike mascot
Courtesy / MTA
Miles the Moose greets southbound travelers on the Maine Turnpike on Labor Day 2018.
As tourists and other summer visitors depart the state this holiday weekend, they'll also wave a final goodbye to the antlered ambassador of the Maine Turnpike.
For the last Labor Day since 2000, costumed mascot Miles the Moose will bid farewell and hand out gifts to southbound drivers at the highway’s York Toll Plaza. With a $40 million, high-speed toll collection site set to open mid-month, a few miles north, the Maine Turnpike Authority expects traffic to move too quickly in the future for Miles and other personnel to greet travelers safely.
But on Monday, Miles will be continuing his duties, distributing thousands of bottles of Poland Spring Water and Wicked Whoopies confections.
“We’ll start handing out our Maine-made treats as soon as traffic builds up enough that we aren’t slowing motorists down. That will likely be around 10 a.m. on Labor Day,” said MTA spokeswoman Erin Courtney.
“This is always a fun thing for us to do. We really do appreciate our customers and we’re so glad we get one last chance to do this down at York.”
Courtney said that not only do out-of-state visitors have a major impact on Maine’s economy, but their tolls account for about two-thirds of the revenue for the turnpike, which is self-financed.
The MTA expects traffic volumes to be up over the weekend compared to last year’s holiday, when travel was limited by pandemic restrictions. More than 1 million vehicles are expected to travel the pike from Friday through Monday, only 3% fewer than the record-breaking total in 2019, according to Courtney.
Year-to-date traffic through August is up 22% compared to the same period in 2020. So far, there have been 55.3 million toll transactions along the 109-mile highway; the total at this date in 2019 was 56.5 million.
The MTA expects traffic to be heaviest at the following times:
- Friday: Northbound from 3-7 p.m.
- Saturday: In both directions, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.; this is expected to be the busiest window of time of the entire weekend
- Monday: Southbound from noon to 7 p.m.
Over the years, Miles has been played by a variety of MTA employees, Courtney told Mainebiz. They include longtime public relations manager Dan Paradee, who died in 2010.
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