US 2 From Bangor to Bethlehem,NH

[bukhrn]

When I type in Bangor to Bethlehem, NH on Google maps, it wants to run me all the way back south on I-95 to Augusta then over the river & through the woods, I would think US2 would be a more direct route, is there something wrong with 2 that I shouldn't go that way? :h

[BillMFl]

A couple years back much of 2 was repaved. I had the bad luck of driving it for many miles when it was rough gravel. Now its a nice drive. Last week I drove from Maine to Brattleboro Vt via 95 to 101 to Manchester NH then to Concord and then to Brattleboro on Rt 9. Next day I93 south and now back in Florida. 101 and 9 are both smooth to drive (38ft Class A) and the foliage was at peak. Rt 7 from Brattleboro will take you to Troy/Albany. Lovely scenery but hilly and slow thru various small towns (drove it last May on the way north).

[bukhrn]

Got back home Wednesday, took Rt 2 from Maine through NH.& Vt. great scenery , good road, & construction in a couple places with no real problems at all. Would certainly recommend the Route.

[ryegatevt]

ryegatevt wrote:
We are in Bar Harbor, traveled from VT to here last Sunday. It was a beautiful easy drive. Fall foliage is at the early to mid-peak stage right now. It's a great way to see the sights and a nice pace. We did drop down to the Maine Turnpike (I-95) at Newport for the final 30+ miles to Bangor (70 MPH speed limit). A bit of bridge construction but no slow downs. You'll enjoy the ride!

10/2 Update: We returned on Wednesday. We did find some paving around Rumford, ME with short delays. Foliage all the way was at peak, even a bit past peak in VT.

[ryegatevt]

We are in Bar Harbor, traveled from VT to here last Sunday. It was a beautiful easy drive. Fall foliage is at the early to mid-peak stage right now. It's a great way to see the sights and a nice pace. We did drop down to the Maine Turnpike (I-95) at Newport for the final 30+ miles to Bangor (70 MPH speed limit). A bit of bridge construction but no slow downs. You'll enjoy the ride!

[lbrjet]

There was some construction just before Skowhegan as mentioned above. Otherwise was an easy trip from Maine to Vermont. A little slow going in parts of Maine with a bunch of towns but the road is in good shape.

[TucsonJim]

Our GPS tried to do the same thing. We really enjoyed US2. Beautiful New England scenery.

[bukhrn]

TucsonJim wrote:
We took US2 all the way from the Maine coast to Vermont. It was a nice highway with the exception of some construction that was about 1 mile long. It was down to one lane with flaggers controlling the traffic. We only had to wait about 5 minutes to get through. But that was two months ago, so it might be all clear now.

We drove the route pulling a 36 foot FW, and encountered no difficulties along the way.

Thanks for the quick response Jim, I just couldn't understand why Google maps wanted to send me that far south to go west when I'll be coming into Bangor from the east anyways.

[TucsonJim]

We took US2 all the way from the Maine coast to Vermont. It was a nice highway with the exception of some construction that was about 1 mile long. It was down to one lane with flaggers controlling the traffic. We only had to wait about 5 minutes to get through. But that was two months ago, so it might be all clear now.

We drove the route pulling a 36 foot FW, and encountered no difficulties along the way.