Three states in six minutes; we followed I-95 south from Exit 7 in Maine south through NH and the entirety of the New Hampshire Turnpike to I-495 in Massachusetts.
Thank you for this very familiar video sir! I went from greater Hartford to southern Maine 17 times in 1996. As for 2009? Once. Strange, I know! I was relieved to see the Maine Turnpike widening get finished under budget and ahead of schedule. I always use to dread the northbound lane drop in York near the Ogunquit town line. Oh well...ON TO HARTFORD! :)
As a Maine resident, a few extra notes for you... great job... as we say, we can't leave Maine without taking this route (hence the 8 lanes, it serves all of Maine, too.) The 8-lane bridges aren't for future expansion, it allows them to do bridge repair on the Maine Turnpike by putting 2 and 2 on the same bridge. This was done during "The Widening" that took it from 2 and 2 to 3 and 3.
I remember driving that same route one time. As we crossed in to Mass. All the cars around me just took off. I had not touched the cruse control, but all the cars around me just bumped up their speed 10+ MPH! I think I heard cars downshifting! Yee haa.
@firenewt95: A left lane hog (or Bandit) is someone who drives in the far left lane of a freeway at or below the speed limit, and refuses to move over for faster traffic, even after lights are flashed and the horn is blown. In the US the left lane is for passing, not cruising.
Used to take the trip Lebanon, ME ( just off the two lane segment of the Spaulding which Sundays in the summer was bad until it widened just before 125) to Boston a lot in the early 2000s.
4:33 I’ve got a VERY funny story about this store. I was probably about three years old and my mom forgot her wallet in a shopping cart. We were headed to NY to see family and picked up some wine or something like that. She literally reversed up the highway ramp to get back to the parking lot LOL. I still give her crap for it.
i freewayjim is frank the laval i find this vidéo very very top nice beacause i remember my last summer, in my vacation to old orchard beach and cape-cod, i pass to interstate 95 south when leaving old orchard beach to continue my vacation ro cape-cod, and i pass the maine turnpike is very cool whent to pass and drive on interstate 95 turnpike to drive on muggle big and redowns etc........to bridge piscaquatuna river...........to nh and mass .................
I took an excursion through eastern PA for Roadside America and Hershey, then stayed in Baltimore (Inner Harbor) that night. The next morning was 95 to 66 in DC to 81 to 77 to 85.
Good job as always. I knew this was what you would be doing based on the previous tease. It's a nice ride. I do find one thing funny: the toll for I-95 is $2, yet if you get off at the NH 101 exit, it's 75 cents. If you had time to kill, you could get off at Exit 2, pay the 75 cents, loop around and pay it again, paying $1.50 total. Then again, you'd burn the other 50 cents in gas trying to make the effort. The shortest drive on I-95 through a state is NH. It goes by fast, too.
As for Left Lane hogs in Maine, yes, too many Mainers don't realize the rightmost lane is a true lane, and not a breakdown lane. Since trucks tend to the center lane... the unwashed all end up in the left lane. It's very annoying. That's why the sudden 8 lanes are so refreshing after crossing the "Piss" Bridge. Yet another great job, FJ. What caused the washout effect around the 3:10 mark?
And.. one minor comment about your description - I think you should note that it's Exit 7 in Maine that you started your trip on, not to get confused to the Exit 7 in Portsmouth, NH. :)
They are talking about replacing the Piscataqua river bridge and possibly widening it. If they do, i hope they do something about the crosswinds and buffeting. It can get pretty scary up there!
In Me-Mass.-NH... did they update the exit numbers to match the mileposts? I know Penn. did that a decade ago. NY still has a ways to go in order to do that.
1:05 It's not a genuine left lane hog if the guy is actually passing someone. He moved back over when he was done. We do have quite the abundance of middle lane hogs, however. Proper lane discipline seems to disappear altogether in this country whenever you have more than two freeway lanes. Most people are good about staying to the right except to pass when there's only two lanes, but add any more and people just dawdle along in whatever lane they feel like, open lane to the right or not.
I don't think I-93 has an exception in New Hampshire. The part in Hooksett between I-293's northern end, and the Hooksett Toll Plaza does have four lanes northbound, but going southbound, there's actually THREE lanes there. So, it's technically a seven lane highway. Therefore, I-95 actually IS the one and only eight lane highway in the Granite State. Nice video, though!! And have you thought of filming the Spaulding Turnpike yet?
Looks like the New Hampshire Turnpike could use Open Road Tolling. Hopefully that's in the foreseeable future (plenty of space to convert that toll plaza).
@StukInBuf legit were the only part of the USA that still has not converted to the mile marker exits. i had heard somewhere within 5-10 years we will have to. makes lots of sesne in my eyes to have it by mile. guess some people will get overwhelmed when they see "exit 127" instead of "exit 17" off i-90 in massachusetts
I agree with Freewayjim about I-95 is the only 8 lane highway in NH, other NH freeways and most of VT have maximum of 2 lane each highways. Hmm even in the largest city of Manchester I-293 only has 2 lanes each, They should have put an HOV lane on I-293 from the turnpike split to the city. and a HOV lane on I-89 in Burlington
I see u added some flavor to this video with that "border enhancer" whatever the name may be. But geez, u have alot of time off to travel like u do. I wish I could. But nonetheless, u have fans
It's nothing really, NH is my home state so spend the money in NH and not Mass, and NH tends to make in convenient with state run liquor stores on I-95 and on I-93, which I have never seen anywhere else in the country.
