KENNEBUNK, Maine — With a stormy forecast looming over Thanksgiving Day, many Mainers hit the road Wednesday to get where they need to go before the snow and rain begin to fall.
Benjamin Frank, who stopped in Kennebunk on his way from Pownal to a Thanksgiving dinner in Pennsylvania, found the roads busy but manageable at around 7 p.m.
"For this time, there’s more than usual, but its still fairly easy, I'd say," Frank explained.
On the Maine Turnpike, which runs from the New Hampshire border north to Augusta, Wednesday is likely to carry the heaviest road traffic of the holiday week. Turnpike spokesperson Rebecca Grover estimated there were around 270,000 toll transactions throughout the day—a crowd for sure, but less than some high traffic times in in the summer.
"It's not one of our busiest times. It doesn't compare to a Saturday in August or anything like that," Grover said.
Still, over this holiday week, Grover says the number of drivers on the turnpike is expected to be nine percent higher than the same period in 2023.
"There will be some traffic out here, there will be some folks driving who aren't used to being here," Grover said.
This year, Thanksgiving travel across the U.S. is expected to break records, according to AAA.
Rail travel in Maine appears to mirror the roads. The Amtrak Downeaster—which runs between Brunswick and Boston—is seeing smaller crowds than yearly high points, but sold-out trains, nonetheless.
"Today has already been busier than the previous day before Thanksgiving," Taylor Auclair, who heads marketing for the Downeaster, said Wednesday. "We've already welcomed several hundred people through this trainway today."
Whether driving or traveling by rail, both Grover and Auclair have the same recommendation: give yourself plenty of time.
As for Frank, a feast awaits at the end of his interstate journey. "My extended family puts on big thing," he said. "It's good to see everybody."