You can complain and complain, but what does it get you? In the case of Interstate 295 motorists, some squawking got a reprieve from another hour-long traffic backup during a busy weekend smack in the middle of tourist season.

Instead of just shrugging off the complaints, the Maine Depaprtment of Transportation, which is doing construction on the highway, listened and did the right thing.

There will be no lane closures in Yarmouth this weekend, meaning that traffic will be allowed to pass through the construction zone without restrictions.

MDOT has its fair share of critics, and we don’t always aggree with its policy decisions, but this was the right move. This time, the state heard the objections and took the hard road and reversed direction. This is a U-turn that deserves a round of applause.

MDOT did not initially plan to slow down traffic on the interstate during the last two weeks of July. The concrete work in Yarmouth that requires traffic to be stopped overnight had been scheduled for June, but a series of rainy weekends made that impossible.

Traffic engineers thought that by working on one lane at a time, leaving a lane open, through traffic would not have been disrupted too much.

They thought wrong.

Northbound traffic backed up as far as Tukey’s Bridge in Portland, creating delays as long as 90 minutes for travelers, including tourists who had other ideas about how they wanted to spend their precious time in Maine.

That put additional pressure on businesses like hotels and restaurants that rely on good word-of-mouth advertising and repeat visitors.

“There’s nothing worse than getting a guest showing up for the first time at a property after waiting on the highway for an hour and and a half,” said Greg Dugal, executive director of the Maine Innkeepers Association. “Everything better be perfect.”

Dugal was prepared to let MDOT have it when he found that the state agency had already reversed course.

Brad Foley, program manager for MDOT, said the decision “put a little egg on our face,” but it was important to do the right thing.

Foley has nothing to be embarrassed about. This change of direction rates not jeers, but cheers.

 

Comments are not available on this story.