A spike in accidents and snarled traffic has prompted a state senator to propose lowering the speed limit to 60 miles per hour along a congested stretch of Interstate 295.
Sen. Rebecca Millett’s proposal comes as transportation officials continue studying ways to reduce accidents on the section of highway that has seen a 20 percent increase in traffic over the past two years, and with that, nearly a crash every single day.
Millett, from South Portland, travels 295 at least four times a week during the legislative session. The stretch north of Topsham to Gardiner, she says, is pleasant enough. But between Brunswick and Portland?
“By the time I hit the Brunswick-Topsham area, my hands ache from gripping the steering wheel because there’s so many cars going so fast,” she says.
And, as Millett concedes, she doesn’t experience the worst of it: She’s heading north at a time when most of the 295 traffic is heading south – and vice versa.
“Often times I look over and they are bumper to bumper, backed up because somebody’s gone off the road, or there’s been a little bit of a fender bender, if we’re lucky,” she says.
So Millett is proposing to reduce the speed limit from 70 mph to 60 mph between Brunswick and Falmouth. The stretch through Portland city limits would remain the same at 50 mph, and the speed limit north of Exit 28 in Brunswick would remain 70.
Two years ago, transportation officials hiked the speed limit on 295 to 70 mph after a bill was passed authorizing the increase. Since then, the 52-mile stretch of highway has seen a 20 percent increase in traffic between 2013 and 2015 and an increase in accidents of more than 30 percent, according to state crash data.
State police and transportation officials say the spike is concentrated between Falmouth and Brunswick, where a cluster of short-distance ramps, high speeds and traffic elicits driving behavior ranging from terrified to aggressive, or reckless to oblivious.
“We recognize that there is an increase in the volume of traffic, with that has come an increase in crashes. We have to look at the why,” says Maine Department of Transportation spokesman Ted Talbot.
Talbot says the department is undertaking a study to find long-term solutions on 295. In the short term, he says “everything is on the table.” That includes reducing the speed limit and signs to update drivers on accidents ahead so they can exit the interstate.
Millett’s bill is likely to have company as lawmakers consider other proposals.
If lawmakers enact a change to the speed limit, it would be the fourth on the section of highway formerly known as Interstate 495. Prior to 1973, the speed limit was 70 mph, but it was reduced to 55 amid the energy crisis to decrease fuel consumption. Fourteen years later, lawmakers increased it to 65.
The 20 percent increase in traffic on I-295 is in contrast with a 2.4 percent increase statewide, according to state data. In 2015, there were 354 accidents between Falmouth and Gardiner compared with 269 in 2013 — the year before MDOT raised the speed limit from 65 to 70 mph.
Talbot says state traffic engineers have been analyzing accident and traffic data, as well as driving behavior. He says a report on the department’s findings would likely be released next year.
Talbot says he’ll reserve comment on Millett’s proposal until transportation officials can see the bill, which he expects won’t be until after the first of the year.
