Turnpike traffic record for holiday weekend

PORTLAND – A record 671,000 vehicles traveled on the Maine Turnpike over the Memorial Day weekend for a 1.5 percent increase in traffic, officials said Tuesday.

The Maine Turnpike Authority estimates that nearly half of the trips taken on the toll road from Friday through Monday used the E-ZPass system for payments. That’s a 12 percent jump in E-ZPass use over last year, said spokesman Dan Paradee.

Overall, northbound traffic at the toll plaza in York on Friday increased by 4 percent and on Saturday by 1 percent, Paradee said.

Southbound traffic through the York toll plaza was 1.8 percent lower than last year over the four-day period, indicating that some of the visitors may be staying beyond the long weekend and into this week, he said.