OK, OK, sometimes even the Kennebec Commuter makes a commuting faux pas (but don't tell anyone).

After hyping up the Turnpike or U.S. Route 201 to travel south for Memorial Day weekend, what did the Kennebec Commuter do last Monday afternoon? Drive to Portland via I-295.

All was going well until Topsham, and then it was standstill traffic.

After blurting out several expletives and pounding the steering wheel with our fist (and trust us, that really makes the traffic go faster), we finally got past the construction work.

Several of you loyal readers have been writing in lately, asking when the interstate is shutting down for the summer and most importantly, why. The good folks from the Maine Department of Transportation invited us to go on an exclusive tour of the work zone itself, what's going to change, and how it impacts you.

Meg Lane, spokeswoman for the MaineDOT, said closing both southbound lanes for the 18-mile stretch is a more cost-efficient and safer alternative than closing one lane at a time.

"Essentially, the pavement is starting to disintegrate," Lane said. "Our main concern was if we worked on one lane, the work may cause quicker disintegration of the other lane. We don't want chunks of concrete suddenly breaking off and flying into people's windshields."

Once both lanes shut down at midnight of June 16, other routes have been readily prepared to help the daily commuter get from point A to B.

For those north of Gardiner who commute anywhere south of Brunswick, try taking U.S. Route 201. It may sound like a traffic headache waiting to happen, but an on-ramp has been resurrected to get off 201 and back on to I-295, just south of the ending point of the work zone.

Brad Foley of the MaineDOT said the newly paved ramp was grassed over, after being retired from use in the 1970s, when I-295 was being constructed.

"This ramp will help the traffic flow better," Foley said. "Honestly, without this, Topsham would've shut down. There's no way we could move forward with the project without this."

The ramp, however, will be put out to pasture again after Aug. 30, when the project is over, Lane and Foley said. The exit ramp to Topsham is less than a mile away and would pose a safety hazard if it remained open.

Those who live along or plan to use U.S. Route 201 are going to see some major changes, and not just increased traffic.

Foley said an average of 9,000 vehicles are expected to use U.S. Route 201 daily after June 16, three times the number of vehicles using it now. In anticipation of the traffic flow, speed signs and flashing lights will be installed along the route starting just south of Gardiner and ending at the on-ramp to I-295 we just mentioned.

The speed signs, Foley clarified, are the ones drivers see on occasion, gauging a driver's speed as they go by the sign. Heads up: The speed limit will be reduced and area police will take notice.

Finally, the last thing we have to mention is how green this road project is. Road construction and environmental conservation are two things that don't typically go hand in hand, but we really have to hand it to the MaineDOT on this one.

What makes the I-295 project unique is that old concrete will be recycled and used again to repair the interstate, so to speak. Old milled pavement and hot top will be used to build the shoulders of the new lanes, rather than discarded at the end of construction. Money was also saved by re-using the old on-ramp.

"Note of the pavement will be discarded," Foley said. "All of this was really a conservation project as much as a construction project."

And that's nothing to pound your fist on the steering wheel over.

Follow Meghan Malloy's commuter blog and track the cheapest gasoline prices in town daily at

www.kjonline.com.