Interstate 95 or I -95 is an Interstate Highway in the U.S. state of Maine. The road runs from Kittery on the New Hampshire border to the Canadian border at Houlton. It is the only main interstate route in the state. The road serves most major cities in the state, such as Portland, Augusta, and Bangor. The section between New Hampshire and Augusta is a toll road, the Maine Turnpike. The route in Maine is 491 kilometers long.

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Travel directions

I-295 at Portland.

I-95 at Falmouth.

I-95 at Bangor.

Interstate 95 in New Hampshire crosses the Piscataqua River via an arch bridge and enters the state of Maine. I-95 then has 2×3 lanes and is formed by the Maine Turnpike. The highway heads north through very densely wooded areas, a short distance from the Atlantic Ocean. Unlike New Hampshire, Maine’s coastline is urbanized to a limited extent. After 70 kilometers you reach Portland, the largest city on the route. Just before Portland, Interstate 195 from Biddeford joins, in Portland Interstate 295 branches off, forming an alternative route to the north.

At the intersection with I-295, the route also ends with 2×3 lanes. I-95 then passes through Portland’s western suburbs. On the north side of town, there is another option to reach I-295, via the short Interstate 495. After this, the toll road heads north in 2×2 lanes through a rural area with lots of forest and scattered meadows. I-95 passes through an area of ​​low hills. After 50 kilometers you reach the town of Lewiston, where you cross the Androscoggin River. I-95 heads northeast from here and after 35 kilometers, I-295 from Portland rejoins at Gardiner.

I-95 then heads north parallel to the Kennebec River. The highway leads past Augusta, the state capital of Maine, and later Waterville, where one crosses the Kennebec River. The stretch from Waterville to Bangor curves more to the east, characteristic of the broad wooded median strip on much of I-95 in this area. Bangor is the last major town on the I-95 route. Interstate 395 exits in the south of the city. I-95 runs along the west side of Bangor and then follows the Penobscot River north. Population density is getting lower and I-95 is getting quieter. From Bangor it is almost 200 kilometers through sparsely populated rural areas to the border with Canada.

At Medway one crosses the Penobscot River. North of this, I-95 no longer follows a major river. The highway leads through predominantly densely wooded areas and regularly has a wooded median strip. Northern Maine also has some low mountains with bare peaks, but few hills are higher than 400 meters. US 2 runs parallel to I-95 here. The final stretch of I-95 curves east, reaching the border town of Houlton. In Houlton you cross the US 1, after which the border crossing with Canada follows. Highway 95 in New Brunswick then continues to nearby Woodstock, where access is on the Trans-Canada Highway.

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History

The first section of the highway to open was the Maine Turnpike in 1947 between Kittery and Portland, the bridge on the New Hampshire border, incidentally, was two-lane until 1972. In 1955 an extension to Augusta opened, completing the Maine Turnpike. The first toll-free section of Interstate Highway opened in 1960 and was an extension from Augusta to Fairfield. During the 1960s, the rest of the route was built through northern Maine, with some sections opening initially as a super two and later widening to 2×2 lanes. By 1967, the entire Interstate 95 in Maine was completed. It was not until 1981 that the entire route was four lanes.

In 2004, the routing of I-95 was changed. Where the highway used to run from Portland via Brunswick to Augusta, it now goes via Auburn-Lewiston. The old route is run by Interstate 295. The section around Houlton is the quietest stretch of any Interstate Highway in the United States.

Opening history

Traffic intensities

Every day, 82,000 vehicles cross the New Hampshire border, dropping to 70,000 vehicles at Biddeford and 50,000 vehicles after the interchange with I-295 in Portland. Further north, there are 35,000 vehicles in Falmouth and 12,000 in Lewiston. This rises again to 22,000 vehicles at Augusta and 28,000 vehicles between Augusta and Waterville. This then drops to 14,000 vehicles until Bangor. 25,000 vehicles pass through Bangor, then descend to 7,000 to 4,000 vehicles until Houlton. Only 2,200 vehicles cross the border into Canada every day.