The heaviuest Memorial Day traffic on the Maine Turnpike is expected from 4 to 7 p.m. on Monday. JOURNAL TRIBUNE/ file photo
Turnpike officials are expecting a 3.1 percent increase in traffic over last year’s Memorial Day weekend.
About 960,000 vehicles are predicted to travel the turnpike over the holiday. Monday will be especially busy at the York Toll Plaza southbound where more than 57,000 vehicles are expected to depart the state, with the heaviest between 4 and 7 p.m.
Motorists traveling the Turnpike over the Holiday weekend can also pick up their copy of the Maine Public Radio “Guide to Road Trip Games” booklet. The guide is filled with fun games to play in the car as well as safe driving tips provided by its sponsors, Goodwin’s Volvo, Maine’s Credit Unions, Maine Turnpike Authority and Maine Public Broadcasting Network.
The guides will be distributed at each of the Turnpike’s mainline plazas in York, New Gloucester, West Gardiner and Gardiner and will also be available in all five of its Service Plazas.
In honor of Memorial Day, the Authority would like to remind people that the Maine Turnpike is designated the Gold Star Memorial Highway to commemorate the valor and sacrifice of those who died in service to our country.
The Gold Star was worn by American mothers instead of conventional mourning clothes during World War I. The display of gold star banners in homes began in World War II and it is a tradition that has been carried through every war thereafter.
The Maine Turnpike was designated the Gold Star Memorial Highway in 1965 by Governor Reed.
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