PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 9, 2025
After years of promises, the Maine Turnpike Authority is finally taking steps to install noise barriers along a quarter-mile stretch of the toll highway that runs through a residential neighborhood off outer Forest Avenue in Portland. It can’t happen soon enough for Deb Nason, who has lived beside the turnpike for nearly 40 years and had no luck prodding the state agency to address the noise problem in the past. In that time, the roar of passing cars and trucks has only grown louder. Trees have been trimmed and removed as part of safety and construction projects, she said. At the same time, the number of passing vehicles has increased to about 50,000 each day.