Quote: Originally Posted by NHRef
Ross, will the route take us through the northern end of US Rt 1, Fort Kent ME?
The short answers are no, and yes. The long answers are maybe and not so much.
For everyone else's reference, Fort Kent is on the north-western border of Maine and New Brunswick.
Given that most people are coming from New England, I would expect that the desired route to New Brunswick will be via I-95 to its terminus half way up New Brunswick, or more likely, shave about 30 minutes by turning onto ME-9 at Bangor and crossing near the ocean at Calais/St. Stephen. This is the exact opposite side of Maine from Fort Kent, so going to Fort Kent would be several hours away. Having said that, Maine is not really that big a place. If you took the all-I-95 route, you'll pass within 90 miles of Fort Kent at the closest point. So a side-trip there would be about 3.5 hours round-trip extra over the Calais route. For variety, you might try the NB side (TCH) one way, and ME highways the other.
BUT...
If I were setting out on this trip from Ottawa or Montreal, the fastest (mostly-freeway) route is the Trans-Canada, which follow A-20 in Quebec before making the big right turn onto R-185 at Riviere-du-Loup to enter the Maritimes. When the QC/NB border is reached, Fort Kent is only about 40 minutes away. However, there is an alternative that is even better for Fort Kent. About 30 miles before the 'big right turn', taking Quebec's R-289 crosses into NB and reaches the St. John River (which forms the border with Maine) within a few miles of the bridge to Fort Kent. I took this route in 2003 and found it to be virtually the same distance, but being a more minor road it added about 30 minutes (agressively passing logging trucks will cut this to almost nothing though).
Coming from southern NH, taking the TCH is a considerably longer route to the Maritimes than I-95. Still, if you're set on it, then I'm probably your best candidate as a passenger. That's because I could meet you on the way, and it would arguably even save me an hour or two vs. meeting someone further south in NY / NH / MA.
Well, this answer has gotten long enough.
Ross
