For the first time since the 1970s, the Maine Department of Transportation has named new “scenic byways,” a designation that makes the roads eligible for federally funded improvement and increases their tourist traffic, state officials said Friday.

Located in Maine’s western mountains, northern Penobscot County and in northern Somerset and Piscataquis counties, the three roads cover 168 miles and are in some of Maine’s most pristine and historic locations, said Bob LaRoche, scenic byway coordinator for Maine DOT.

“These are all, in some way, the most unique places in Maine,” LaRoche said Friday.

The roads are:

. The Seboomook Scenic Byway, or 49 miles of Route 15 from the Indian Hill Rest Area in Greenville northwest to the intersection of Route 15 and U.S. Route 201 in Jackman;

. The Grindstone Scenic Byway, or 59 miles of Routes 11, 159 and the Grand Lake Road, extending from Medway through Patten to the north gate of Baxter State Park; and

. The Evans Notch Scenic Byway, or 60 miles of Route 113 between Standish and the Batchelder’s Grant-Gilead town line. Only those portions of Route 113 within Maine are designated.

The roads will be added to the state DOT Web site’s scenic roads listing, be printed on more than 10,000 DOT maps, and will get special signage advertising their new status within several weeks, LaRoche said.

On the Internet, the scenic roads listing “is the second most requested topic for information for tourists coming to Maine,” LaRoche said – a draw heavy enough to guarantee several thousand more visitors to those places annually.

With roots back to Lady Bird Johnson’s Highway Beautification Act of 1965, the scenic byways program languished from a lack of funding in Maine from the 1970s to 1993, when some funding was restored. That funding, however, extended existing byways until a DOT committee named the new roads on Aug. 22, LaRoche said.

The funding can be used for roadside improvements, such as parking, signage and road-shoulder work, such as bicycle lanes or walking paths, developed around a theme by local committees that can apply for scenic road funding, LaRoche said.

The Grindstone Scenic Byway might be themed “a Working Forest,” a designation that would highlight the Katahdin region’s past and present paper production, said Bruce McLean, a Millinocket Town Council member and executive director of the Millinocket Area Growth and Investment Council, a quasi-public economic development agency.

“This puts us on the map for people who search for scenic byways, and before we were never there,” McLean said Friday. “This could be a wonderful opportunity to draw more people to the area.”

MAGIC, which worked with local landowners and municipalities and the Eastern Maine and Northern Maine development corporations and first started to push to have the road named a byway about two years ago, is looking to form a development committee, McLean said. Interested residents can call 723-7800.

The scenic byways will get signage within the next several weeks, LaRoche said.

SCENIC BYWAYS

The new roads join nine other scenic byways in Maine.

. Acadia Byway All-America Road on Mount Desert Island.

. Blackwoods Scenic Byway on Route 182 between Franklin and Cherryfield.

. Fish River Scenic Byway on Route 11 between Portage Lake and Fort Kent.

. Grafton Notch Scenic Byway on Route 26, including parts of Grafton Notch State Park.

. Million Dollar View Scenic Byway along U.S. Route 1 in northern Washington and southern Aroostook Counties.

. Old Canada Road National Scenic Byway along Route 201 in the upper Kennebec River Valley.

. Rangeley Lakes National Scenic Byway along parts of Routes 4 and 17 in the Rangeley area.

. Route 27 Scenic Byway in the Carabassett River Valley between Kingfield and Coburn Gore.

. Schoodic National Scenic Byway along parts of U.S. Route 1 and Route 186 on Frenchman’s Bay and the Schoodic Peninsula.