Maine State Route 222
<< Maine State Route 221 All Points in Maine Maine State Route 223 >>

Termini and Mileage (2006)	Termini Main alignment: Int of DEXTER RD, EXETER RD, N, Corinna to Int of HAMMOND, UNION, FOUR, Bangor Mileage Main alignment: 27.65 miles (total over all segments)
Notes and History	ME 222 as originally designated in 1931-2 ran on new routing between Caribou at US 1 and the Canadian border east of Fort Fairfield. After the Maine Great Renumbering, this alignment was added as an extension to ME 161 and the number lapsed until 1936, when it was applied to its present-day, new routing between Bangor at US 2/ME 100 and Corinna at an awkward multi-way intersection between ME 7, ME 11 and ME 43 (ME 43 and ME 7/ME 11 enter town, but ME 7 and ME 11/ME 43 leave it). In Bangor proper, it is the primary service route for the Bangor International Airport, formerly Dow Air Force Base. First established as a menial landing strip in 1927, the strip rapidly expanded to facilitate commercial and general aviation; Pan American Airways used the facility, by then a full airport, for commercial flights as early as 1931 and Amelia Earhart herself flew the inaugural flights for the Boston-Maine Airway service in 1933. In the 1940s the strip was converted into Dow Air Force Base, with initial air operations available in 1946 for its 11,439' runway -- particularly useful for the B-52 Stratofortress bombers that were based there from 1960 up until the base was closed in 1968. During its time as Dow AFB, significant local expansion occurred (see US 2) which was rolled into the new Int'l Airport when the base was decommissioned; however, although no longer an actual military base, transport aircraft and fighters continue to arrive as an intermediate and fueling destination and a regular fleet of KC-135 Stratotanker refueling planes are still based at the airport. Because it is the easternmost international security-capable airport in the United States and has the second-longest runway on the Eastern seaboard with typically open airspace, it is a frequent destination for flights diverted due to weather, technical glitches or security concerns. This might change, however, as BGR's domestic air service currently boasts annual passenger counts in excess of 500,000. (Speaking personally as someone who's spent a lot of time in this airport, I might add.) Because of its long history of service as Dow AFB and its continued specific importance to local and national aviation, it was designated a Maine State Historic Civil Engineering Landmark with a plaque placed in 2001. An irregularity on the Maine GIS data for ME 222 is that the portions signed as such are designated state-aid, but the portion of Union St that is not is actually state highway despite not ever having been part of a numbered route.
Additional Photographs
End ME 222 in downtown Bangor (there is a nice Japanese restaurant just ahead on the right). US 2 and ME 100 are cosigned through most of Bangor. Note the dark navy blue "old sign style" I-95 shield.

<< Maine State Route 221 All Points in Maine Maine State Route 223 >>

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