Floodgap Roadgap's RoadsAroundME: Maine State Route 183

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Maine State Route 183

<< Maine State Route 182 All Points in Maine Maine State Route 184 >>

Termini and Mileage (2006)

Termini
Main alignment: Int of TOWN LNDG, TUNK POND RD, Sullivan to Int of TUNK POND RD, PW AH, Sullivan
Mileage
Main alignment: 5.45 miles (total over all segments)

Regional and National Route Information

History as Pole Highway (1919-1925)
As originally signed, ME 183 encompassed the Yellow - White Mount Desert Trail in its entirety.

Notes and History
ME 183 as originally designated in 1925 ran between Ellsworth at NEI 1 (now US 1) and Town Hill at ME 198 along the complicated Bar Harbor loop today traversed in part by ME 3 and ME 102. However, ME 183's routing was a bit more prosaic than the highway routings of its successor highways would suggest; its routing seems to have been down from Ellsworth through Trenton (part of former lettered highway M), across the Mt Desert Bridge (now demolished, see ME 3), splitting at Red Rock Corner/Town Hill, proceeding to Hulls Cove on what is now Crooked Rd (not ME 3 to the north) and thence to Bar Harbour, all of which was along the former alignment of the Mount Desert Trail; then through Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park -- then called Lafayette National Park -- along modern ME 3 (the park loop roads are not former alignments but rather later construction), heading to Northeast Harbor and turning back west through Somesville and south to Southwest Harbor along modern ME 102, then Tremont and Seal Cove along ME 102 and finally Indian Point via Indian Point Rd (not ME 102 to the south) to Town Hill where it intercepted ME 198 and itself. (There is no evidence that present-day ME 102A through Seawall is a former alignment.) In 1929, the Crooked Rd alignment was abandoned and ME 183 realigned north to what is Bar Harbor Rd and ME 3 today; the Crooked Rd alignment is no longer numbered highway.
In 1931, the number lapsed and its routing was surrendered in large part to ME 102, becoming mostly ME 3 after the Maine Great Renumbering. ME 183 would be resurrected in 1937-8 for its present and much more ignominious routing near East Sullivan between US 1 and Tunk Pond. Originally it appears that it terminated at the end of Harvey Ln nearly at lake's edge; this was cut back to Tunk Pond Rd itself in 1954, and remains the current routing. Interestingly, MDOT and NAVTEQ disagree on whether Tunk is a lake or a pond; NAVTEQ gives the road as Tunk Lake Rd.
For the history of the original ME 102/ME 183 crossing to Mount Desert Island, see ME 3.

<< Maine State Route 182 All Points in Maine Maine State Route 184 >>

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Termini and Mileage (2006)	Termini Main alignment: Int of TOWN LNDG, TUNK POND RD, Sullivan to Int of TUNK POND RD, PW AH, Sullivan Mileage Main alignment: 5.45 miles (total over all segments)

*Regional and National Route Information*	History as Pole Highway (1919-1925) As originally signed, ME 183 encompassed the Yellow - White Mount Desert Trail in its entirety.

*Notes and History*	ME 183 as originally designated in 1925 ran between Ellsworth at NEI 1 (now US 1) and Town Hill at ME 198 along the complicated Bar Harbor loop today traversed in part by ME 3 and ME 102. However, ME 183's routing was a bit more prosaic than the highway routings of its successor highways would suggest; its routing seems to have been down from Ellsworth through Trenton (part of former lettered highway M), across the Mt Desert Bridge (now demolished, see ME 3), splitting at Red Rock Corner/Town Hill, proceeding to Hulls Cove on what is now Crooked Rd (not ME 3 to the north) and thence to Bar Harbour, all of which was along the former alignment of the Mount Desert Trail; then through Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park -- then called Lafayette National Park -- along modern ME 3 (the park loop roads are not former alignments but rather later construction), heading to Northeast Harbor and turning back west through Somesville and south to Southwest Harbor along modern ME 102, then Tremont and Seal Cove along ME 102 and finally Indian Point via Indian Point Rd (not ME 102 to the south) to Town Hill where it intercepted ME 198 and itself. (There is no evidence that present-day ME 102A through Seawall is a former alignment.) In 1929, the Crooked Rd alignment was abandoned and ME 183 realigned north to what is Bar Harbor Rd and ME 3 today; the Crooked Rd alignment is no longer numbered highway. In 1931, the number lapsed and its routing was surrendered in large part to ME 102, becoming mostly ME 3 after the Maine Great Renumbering. ME 183 would be resurrected in 1937-8 for its present and much more ignominious routing near East Sullivan between US 1 and Tunk Pond. Originally it appears that it terminated at the end of Harvey Ln nearly at lake's edge; this was cut back to Tunk Pond Rd itself in 1954, and remains the current routing. Interestingly, MDOT and NAVTEQ disagree on whether Tunk is a lake or a pond; NAVTEQ gives the road as Tunk Lake Rd. For the history of the original ME 102/ME 183 crossing to Mount Desert Island, see ME 3.