Ah, Memorial Day Weekend. A time to go up to camp, fire up the grill, get the boat out...and work construction on the interstate?

On the eve of the one of the biggest traveling holidays in the U.S., construction work on Interstate-295 was going to continue through Memorial Day Weekend, including today.

This struck us as just a little bit odd. Maybe it struck you loyal readers as a little odd, too, especially if your family is one of the hundreds or thousands who went up to camp, or headed south for some beach time. Why in the world would road construction continue on one of the busiest roads in the state — I-295 — during one of the busiest traveling weekends?

Meg Lane, a spokeswoman for the MaineDOT, said the (hopefully) sunny weather will play a role in the on-going construction, concentrated in the southbound lanes of the interstate in the Topsham-Brunswick vicinity.

While acknowledging this holiday weekend is a busy one for motorists, Lane added construction crews have a lot of work to complete before the closure of both southbound lanes June 16 and they need all the good weather they can get. Also, Lane added, the project is so large, asking the contractor to stop working would be comprable to shooting themselves in the foot.

“The contractor is putting in 16 hours a day, seven days a week,” Lane said. “If we asked them not to work, they’d really be behind the eight ball.” Lane suggests going southbound on the turnpike if traveling near Topsham.

“It’s an approach that makes sense,” Lane said. “(MaineDOT) is aware it is a holiday weekend, but we can’t insist they close on a weekend. They need all the good workdays they can get to finish this, so the overall project can wrap up by the August finish date.”

But most of us have a stubborn relative (like this writer’s father) who will insist on taking the most direct route, even if it means driving through a chaotic morassMMalloy 5/23/08 it’s a word! means tangle of work crews, heavy machinery, and minding fellow drivers, which Lane also acknowledged.

“Of course, the most important thing is for drivers to watch for work crews,” Lane said. “People need to put the cell phone down and watch their driving.”

One of the lanes, starting from Exit 31A-B to Exit 28, will be closed. Lane said as a precaution, the speed limit will be reduced to 55 mph, and the good folks from the Maine State Police will have a heavy presence to enforce the reduced speed limit. Fines automatically double for violating a speed limit in a work zone.

Those of you loading up the car right now for the lake, heed warning and find an alternative route. We hate to harp on it, but really, the Maine Turnpike is the Memorial Day Weekend traveler’s best bet. All construction work will be suspended and lanes will be open to ensure smoother and easier travel.

Despite the likelihood that traffic on the turnpike will be condensed, not only because it’s a holiday weekend, but because drivers will want to avoid I-295, the folks at the Maine Turnpike Authority still believe no new traffic records will be set during this weekend, according to a release sent out just before the weekend started.

Those troublesome gas prices -- some well over the $4 per gallon mark in southern and northern Maine -- are the culprit, turnpike officials believe. An estimated 650,000 vehicles will pass through the entrance to the Maine Turnpike in York this entire weekend.

Have a safe and wonderful Memorial Day!

Follow Meghan Malloy’s commuter blog and track the cheapest gasoline prices in town daily at www.kjonline.com.