Notes and History |
The route log mileage above is based on the 2006 routing, which was altered
in May 2007 (see below).
Here are the individual segments that are, or once were,
signed as US 1 Alternate in Maine listed from longest to shortest:
- Stockton Springs-Ellsworth via Bangor
(54.0 miles). This is the longest
US 1A -- in the United States, not just in Maine --
and a former routing of US 1 (as described above; part of former
lettered highway L).
In addition to its major routings over Main St and Bangor
Rd between Hampden and Stockton Springs, and Bangor Rd between Brewer and
Ellsworth, US 1A is also carried on (Bangor-Brewer) Wilson St, then
Union St, Summer St, Railroad St and Main St with ME 9; as well as
(Ellsworth) Oak St and State St, becoming Bangor Rd. This 1A replaced the
earlier half-mile 1A through downtown Bangor, itself a former piece
of US 1; see below for the history. For the record,
Maine also has the longest US 2A.
The Bangor 1A has had several realignments, some of which include:
- Stockton Springs. See US 1.
- Frankfort. US 1A (and previously US 1) now occupies a
curve-straightened alignment variously signed as Bangor Rd and S Main St.
The former alignment is Yeager Rd and can be seen on the
1900 topo (warning:
large image). This alignment must have been bypassed relatively early,
certainly before US 1A, as the modern alignment appears on the
1948 topo (warning:
large image).
- North Winterport-Coles Corner.
US 1A (and previously US 1) now occupies a
curve-straightened alignment variously signed as N Main St.
The former alignment is Old County Rd and can be seen on the
1900 topo (warning:
large image). This alignment must have been bypassed relatively early,
certainly before US 1A, as the modern alignment appears on the
1948 topo (warning:
large image).
- Hampden. Old County Rd may have been an old alignment of
US 1 in this region, but the modern alignment of US 1A/ME 9
(and previously US 202) has existed at least since the
1902 topo (warning:
large image).
- Bangor-Brewer. See the former Bangor 1A below for realignments
related to this segment.
- Holden. US 1A (and previously US 1) now occupies a
curve-smoothed alignment now signed as Main Rd.
The former alignment is Church Rd and can be seen on the
1946 topo and
1955 topo (warning:
large images). The modern alignment appears on the 1965 general atlas.
- East Dedham. US 1A (and previously US 1) now occupies a
curve-straightened bypass alignment to the east now signed as Main Rd.
The former alignment is Lily Rd and Old Route 1A, and can be seen on the
1942 topo,
the 1948 topo,
the 1955 topo (warning:
large images) and even the 1968 general atlas, so this realignment must
have occurred relatively late. The Maine Central Railroad bridge carries
a date of 1973, making that the most likely date of realignment.
The Old Belfast Rd near Frankfort does not appear to have been part of
either US 1 or US 1A.
- Mars Hill-Van Buren (49.8 miles). As first signed in 1940,
this route went to Caribou using the portion of
old US 1's routing to Easton Center, taking over ME 165 north
to Fort Fairfield,
and then taking over ME 161 to Caribou. Portions near Fairfield were
co-signed with ME 167, but ME 167 remained signed. In 1983, the routing
was shifted
due north through Fort Fairfield to Van Buren along the rest of ME 165,
which was then decommissioned, and the remaining
orphaned alignment was returned to ME 161.
See also the old Presque Isle to Mars Hill 1A below.
There seems to be an old alignment of ME 165 to the west between Fort
Fairfield and Four Corners/ME 223 signed as Fort Fairfield and
Center Limestone Rd; it is doubtful this was part of US 1A when
designated in this region. Similarly, there is another old alignment
of ME 165 along what is signed Old East Rd as seen in the
1933 topo and
1951 topo (warning:
large images), but this was realigned by the 1961 general atlas long
before US 1A was on this routing.
This US 1A
is part of the Pine Tree Trail in
its entirety as an alternate routing.
- Stockton Springs-Ellsworth via Bucksport (decommissioned;
27.0 miles).
As mentioned above, this was originally US 1A and is now COASTAL US 1.
The official state maps show it signed as early as 1939, but it does not
appear in the route logs until 1953; it was shifted away with the designation
of the Bangor 1A in 1955.
- Mars Hill-Presque Isle (decommissioned; 14.3 miles).
This was US 1A from 1936-40 and is now US 1. US 1 originally
occupied a "bent"
alignment between Mars Hill and Presque Isle via Easton Center until
this 1A was decommissioned in 1940; it was then shifted to former 1A, the
now-vacated US 1
alignment between Mars Hill and Easton Center
was designated as part of present-day
US 1A between
Van Buren and Mars Hill, and the remainder between Easton Center and
Presque Isle became modern
ME 10 in its entirety. Previously, this was ME 1ASH.
- Jonesboro-Machias (8.1 miles). This was designated in 1936.
Previously, this was ME 1ASH.
- Milbridge-Harrington (7.8 miles). This was designated in 1936.
Previously, this was ME 1ASH.
- York-Cape Neddick (7.0 miles). This was designated in 1936.
Previously, this was ME 1ASH. It is a former alignment of US 1.
- Portland (3.7 miles [as originally signed]).
This was designated in 1951 and as signed originally ran along W
Commercial St, Commercial St, India St, Congress St
and Washington Avenue, picking up ME 26 at Cumberland Ave and
crossing with it over Back Cove
to US 1 on Veranda St where it terminated and left ME 26 exiting the
town on Washington Ave.
After northern construction of the I-295 freeway
reconfigured the Tukey's Bridge Back Cove crossing (completed in 1960),
US 1A was shifted to the
freeway to cross the Cove and terminate at the US 1 interchange
but retained the remainder of the alignment
until the construction of the Franklin Arterial to Commercial
St was completed in 1971-2.
At that point, US 1A was shifted northeast to the Arterial and, when I-295
was finished (see I-295), onto
I-295 directly from there with the India-Congress-Washington alignment
dropped from the routing.
In May 2007, MDOT petitioned and received approval from
AASHTO to realign US 1A in Portland again. The new US 1A
incorporates the Portland Connector (Fore River Pkwy)
from I-295 to the east end of the
Veterans Memorial Bridge, then the old routing along Commercial and the
Franklin Arterial, up to I-295 where it terminates and is no longer
co-routed on Tukey's Bridge.
The choice of the Portland Connector is a strange one, given that the
Veterans Memorial would be a faster link and was freed up by the US 1
realignment at the same time. Although some of the old signage still survives,
new signage is up on I-295 (but this edition of the route
log reflects the old routing). Interestingly,
this routing also prevents any movement to its southbound parent on its
southbound end.
There is a curious error in the US 1A realignment application; it gives the
original northern terminus as Franklin Arterial/Marginal Way, not US 1 at the
East Deering Interchange. In addition, it implies an active alignment along
Marginal Way to Plowman St which has never appeared previously in any route
log I have access to (and has no direct access to I-295, possibly even
since 1974). However, there
is at least one report of a single lonely 1A shield on Marginal Way WB
approaching the Franklin Arterial.
- Rockland (1.6 miles). This is former US 1BYP, which itself was
former US 1A (again). Signage for dual alignments of US 1 start to appear
as early as 1941 (see this 1941
topo [warning: large image]); interestingly, it seems that the bypass
routing seen on what is now Old County Rd was the older of the two. By 1950
it is seen on its present-day routing, (northbound)
from US 1 up Broadway to Birch St, and then Maverick St back to US 1;
ultimately it
started to appear as Bypass US 1 in 1963 (listed as such by 1964 in the MDOT
route logs), but reverted back to US 1A by 1987 and continues to appear as
US 1A in the present route log. There are no more BYPASS signs today.
- Bangor (decommissioned; 0.5 miles).
This short 1A within downtown Bangor was first designated 1946-7
and had at least two known routings. The first and earliest existed
when only the State St bridge crossed the Penobscot River and is seen
on the 1949 map; mainline then-US 1 crossed the Penobscot on State St
from the Brewer side,
headed west on Washington St, north on Exchange St, briefly co-routed with
US 2 along State St
on the Bangor side to Hammond St, then left town with US 202
along Main St. In this earliest incarnation, US 1A was the cutoff routing
along (east to west) Washington St over the Kenduskeag Stream outlet,
Summer St and Railroad St back to
mainline US 1. This routing persisted through 1953, when the Union St
bridge was under construction.
In 1954, US 1 was switched
to the former 1A with modifications: it
now proceeded over the new bridge, approaching from the Brewer side on
Wilson St and connecting directly to Summer St, dropping Washington St
and the Kenduskeag Stream crossing
entirely from the routing. As for US 1A, it was redesignated US 1B
and moved to the former US 1 routing except
that instead of co-routing with US 2 on State, it followed a hooked routing
north of Exchange up along Harlow St and back down Central St to rejoin the
former routing at the corner of Main St and State.
These alignments
then survived to become the aforementioned long 1A (or at least part of it)
and US 1AB respectively in 1955. See also US 1AB.
- Todds Corners-Freeport (erroneous). Several sources give this routing
as an old 1A, but a 1A corresponding to these termini
has never appeared in any of my route
logs dating back to 1925. However, there was a US 1B in this region, which
is now once again US 1, and some maps incorrectly show that
alignment as 1A (including Maine's own despite listing the alignment as
US 1B in the accumulative log).
This error is probably partially propagated by a 1956
route log showing a "Business 1A" in Freeport (US 1AB) under ME 125
that is neither shown on the map, nor under the logs for US 1 or 1A;
this likely refers to US 1B also.
US 1BYP in Kittery (1.5 miles)
is charged by MDOT
as part of US 1A's mileage in this edition of the route log
even though it's not signed as US 1A (but it apparently was in the 1960s;
see the US 1BYP entry). Note that due to rounding error from significant
digits on the accumulative log these distances were built from, the
total routing computes to 129.8 miles.
A US 1A Business once existed in Bangor; see that
entry (US 1AB) and ME 1ASH (Maine State Route 1A).
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