Turnpike officials expect record traffic, plan to feed thousands of motorists
Courtesy / MTA
Miles the Moose greets southbound travelers on the Maine Turnpike on Labor Day 2018.
Maine’s annual exodus of summer visitors begins tomorrow, and the state Turnpike Authority is predicting a “record number of travelers over the holiday weekend.”
More than 1 million vehicles are expected between Friday and Monday to hit the 109-mile highway, according to a news release from the officials Wednesday. That’s about the same number recorded on Labor Day weekends in the past few years, but the authority said it expects this year’s traffic volume to be up from 2018.
Overall, the MTA said, 2018 was a “banner year.” But turnpike traffic has increased 2.66% over that level during the first seven months of 2019 — 51 million toll transactions through July, compared to 49.7 million during the same period last year.
The authority, a state agency that gets all revenue for the highway from tolls, plans to say farewell to some of the drivers with a Maine-made snack: chips from Fox Family Potato Chips, of Mapleton, and bottles of Poland Spring water.
The authority’s costumed mascots, Miles the Moose and Clawdette the Lobster, will hand the Maine products to motorists at the York Toll Plaza Monday afternoon, according to the release.
“It’s a great way to say ‘thank-you’ to thousands of our customers and highlight some of Maine’s fantastic products,” said turnpike spokeswoman Erin Courtney.
Photo shares and lobster dinner prize
The Maine Turnpike Authority has distributed Maine products on every Labor Day weekend since 2002.
As it did last year, the authority is placing stickers on the potato chip bags inviting visitors to post their favorite Maine vacation photos online with the hashtag #MaineTurnpike. Entrants will get a chance to win a free, home-delivered Maine lobster dinner for four.
Courtney told Mainebiz the authority has 10,000 bags of chips and 10,000 bottles of water ready to distribute. The authority paid about $6,000 for the chips, while Poland Spring donated the water.
Only southbound travelers at Monday's high-volume times will receive the gifts.
“We have to wait for traffic to back up before we go out,” Courtney said by email. “The lanes can only process about 325 cars per hour under those conditions.”
Heavy traffic holiday weekend
Maine isn’t the only state expecting crushing traffic this weekend.
Last year, an estimated 35 million Americans drove at least 50 miles over the holiday period. And while AAA no longer makes national predictions for Labor Day driving, the motorist organization said Monday that average gas prices may be the cheapest for this weekend in three years.
But Maine's turnpike marketing gimmick may be unique, at least regionally. On their websites Thursday, highway authorities in the other nine Northeast states didn’t appear to be planning similar promotions.
For the Maine Turnpike, Friday should be the busiest of the four-day holiday travel period, officials said, with northbound traffic peaking from 3-7 p.m. Monday is expected to be another peak, with heavy southbound traffic from noon to 7 p.m.
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