Interstate 295 (I-295) is a 53.11-mile (85.47 km)-long auxiliary Interstate Highway 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. The highway serves as a bypass of Lewiston-Auburn and serves the Greater Portland area.
Route description[]
I-295 northbound in Portland, Maine.
Interstate 295 branches off from exit 44 of Interstate 95 (Maine Turnpike) in Scarborough, 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.
After splitting from I-95, I-295 has a toll plaza just before its own exit 1. I-295's first exit is in South Portland, giving access to the Maine Mall (southbound) and South Portland and Scarborough (northbound). At exit 4, US 1 joins I-295, and the two highways run concurrently for the next 4 miles (6.4 km). After crossing the Fore River, the highway passes through Downtown Portland, which can be accessed via exits 4 through 8. North of the downtown area, I-295 crosses the Tukey's Bridge over the Back Cove, after which US 1 departs at exit 9. Running parallel with US 1, I-295 meets the eastern terminus of Falmouth Spur (the unsigned Interstate 495) at exit 11 in the town of Falmouth, with a southbound exit and northbound entrance. After passing through Yarmouth and Freeport, exit 28 provides access to the town of Brunswick, where US 1 turns east away from I-295. Continuing north, the highway's last exit is exit 51, State Route 126, which gives access to Gardiner. After a toll plaza, I-295 merges back with I-95, which heads north towards Augusta, the capital of Maine.
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.
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 renumbered 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 West Gardiner was raised from 65 to 70 mph (105 to 113 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 set speed limits on Interstate highways with the approval of the Maine State Police, instead of appealing to the Legislature. The speed limit was reverted from 70 to 65 mph (113 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.
Naming[]
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 Senator. 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".