Interstate 295 (Maine)

Interstate 295
Richard A. Coleman Highway
Route information
Maintained by MaineDOT
Length:	53.11 mi[1] (85.47 km)
Existed:	1960 – present
Major junctions
South end:	I‑95 / Maine Turnpike in Scarborough
North end:	I‑95 / Maine Turnpike in West Gardiner
Highway system
Interstate Highway System Main Auxiliary Suffixed Business Future Maine State Highway System Interstate U.S. State ← SR 238 US 302 →

Northbound in Portland, Maine

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.

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." ^[2]

History

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.^[3]

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 to 70 mph (105 to 115 km/h) 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. ^[4] The speed limit was reverted from 70 to 65 mph (115 to 105 km/h) for a length of 22 miles (35 km) from the section past Tukey's Bridge to Topsham on March 27, 2017. ^[5]

Exit list

County	Location[6]	mi[6]	km	Old exit	New exit	Destinations	Notes
Cumberland	Scarborough	0.00	0.00		–	I‑95 south (Maine Turnpike) – Kittery	Exit 44 on Maine Turnpike
		0.55	0.89		Toll plaza
	South Portland	1.26	2.03		1	To US 1 – South Portland	Northbound signage; northbound exit only
						To I‑95 (Maine Turnpike) / Maine Mall Road	Southbound signage; southbound exit and northbound entrance
		1.99	3.20		2	To US 1 south (Scarborough Connector) – Scarborough, Old Orchard Beach	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		2.16	3.48		3	SR 9 (Westbrook Street) – Jetport	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		3.19	5.13		4	Casco Bay Drive – Portland Waterfront	Northbound signage; US 1 removed from Casco Bay Drive in May 2007
						US 1 south (Main Street)	Southbound signage; southern end of concurrency with US 1
	South Portland–Portland line	3.70	5.95		Fore River
	Portland	4.46	7.18		5	SR 22 / US 1A (Congress Street)	Signed as Exits 5A (east) and 5B (west) southbound
		5.35	8.61		6A	SR 100 south (Forest Avenue)	US 1 removed from Forest Avenue in May 2007
					6B	SR 100 north (Forest Avenue) / US 302 west
		5.89	9.48		7	US 1A (Franklin Street)
		6.57	10.57		8	SR 26 south (Washington Avenue)	Southbound signage; southbound exit and northbound entrance; southern end of concurrency with SR 26
		6.73	10.83		8	SR 26 north (Washington Avenue)	Northbound signage; northbound exit and southbound entrance; northern end of concurrency with SR 26
		6.97	11.22		9	US 1 south / SR 26 north (Washington Avenue) / Baxter Boulevard	Southbound signage; southbound exit and northbound entrance; US 1 removed from Baxter Boulevard in May 2007
		7.12	11.46		9	US 1 north – Falmouth Foreside	Northbound signage; northbound exit and southbound entrance; northern end of concurrency with US 1
	Falmouth	9.45	15.21		Ryan Quirion Guthrie Bridge over the Presumpscot River
		10.62	17.09		10	To I‑95 (Maine Turnpike) / US 1 / SR 9 / Bucknam Road – Falmouth, Cumberland	I-95 and Cumberland only appear on northbound signage
		11.00	17.70	15	11	I‑95 (Maine Turnpike) – New Hampshire, Massachusetts	Southbound exit and northbound entrance; former northern terminus; access via Falmouth Spur (formerly I-95)
	Yarmouth	15.24	24.53	16	15	US 1 – Yarmouth, Cumberland	Northbound entrance added August 2013
		16.35	26.31	Royal River
		17.24	27.75		17	US 1 – Yarmouth, Freeport	Freeport only appears on northbound signage
	Yarmouth–Freeport line	17.98	28.94	Cousins River
	Freeport	20.65	33.23	19	20	To US 1 / Desert Road – Freeport	US 1 only appears on southbound signage
		22.25	35.81	20	22	SR 125 (Mallet Drive) / SR 136 – Freeport, Durham
		23.70	38.14	21	24	US 1 – Freeport	Northbound exit and entrance
	Brunswick	28.38	45.67	22	28	US 1 (Coastal Route) – Brunswick, Bath
Cumberland–Sagadahoc county line	Brunswick–Topsham line	30.02	48.31	Androscoggin River
Sagadahoc	Topsham	31.04	49.95	24A	31A	SR 196 east – Topsham, Brunswick	Signed as Exit 31 northbound; Brunswick and Lewiston only appear on southbound signage; access to Bates College
				24B	31B	SR 196 west (Lewiston Road) – Lisbon, Lewiston
	Bowdoinham	37.10	59.71	25	37	SR 125 / SR 138 – Bowdoinham, Bowdoin
	Richmond	43.47	69.96	26	43	SR 197 – Richmond, Litchfield
Kennebec	Gardiner	49.29	79.32	27	49	US 201 – Gardiner
	Gardiner–West Gardiner line	50.29	80.93	Cobbosseecontee Stream
	West Gardiner	51.48	82.85	28	51	SR 9 / SR 126 – Litchfield, Gardiner
		51.70	83.20	Toll plaza
		52.27	84.12		–	I‑95 north (Maine Turnpike) – Augusta, Waterville	Exit 103 on Maine Turnpike
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus       Incomplete access       Tolled

References

External links

Route map: Google

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Interstate 295 (Maine).

• I-295 on Kurumi.com
• Steve Anderson's BostonRoads.com: Interstate 295 (Maine)