Fun fact. When the Maine Turnpike first opened in 1947, it was ahead of the nation as only the second superhighway in the United States. 75 years later it's wider, longer, more technologically advanced and is the way most people enter the State of Maine.

I remember taking the Maine Turnpike when I was a kid in the 70s and 80s, whenever we headed south to Boston either to see a Red Sox game or go to the New England Aquarium and Museum of Science.

Back then there were no open toll roads where you don't have to stop and you pay your toll electronically. It was all cash and when you got on the Turnpike, you were handed a transit ticket which told the toll taker when you exit how far you traveled and how much the toll was.

I remember when the Kennebunk travel plaza had Howard Johnson Restaurants in the 70s and in the 80s when they changed to Burger King and food courts, I played Super Pac-Man there for the very first time.

A lot has changed in 75 years, and to celebrate the anniversary, The Maine Turnpike Authority has put together a website with all kinds of videos and photos that serve as a time machine taking you back through the history of one of Maine's greatest feats of engineering.

And work continues to improve the Maine Turnpike today, with the opening of the open toll road in Kittery that alleviates a lot of traffic backups and the widening of the Turnpike to three lanes through Portland. the Turnpike today.

To see more of the Maine Turnpike's history over the past 75 years, visit maineturnpike75.com.

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