A foreboding weather forecast didn’t keep Memorial Day travelers away from Maine as much as the state anticipated, according to data collected on roadways around the state over the holiday weekend.
Headed into the holiday weekend, the Maine Department of Transportation anticipated a drop of 2.5 percent from the same weekend last year, based largely on the nor’easter that swept across the state on Friday.
But the actual change was down only about 1 percent from 2024, and down 2 percent from the pre-pandemic year of 2019.
In total, the state logged more than 1 million “vehicle transactions” from Friday to Monday, despite predicting falling short of that mark.
A Maine Turnpike Authority spokesperson told the Portland Press Herald that most travelers at the Kennebunk service plaza on Saturday said they were headed to Acadia National Park.
She speculated that out-of-state travelers who booked their plans a month ago were less likely to cancel based on the weather than people who live in Maine.
