Recently, I talked to a couple in Kingfield who are from the Cape in Massachusetts. There are six or seven families from the Cape that have camps on Gammon Pond in New Portland. After talking for a few minutes with them, I found out that they take Interstate 95 all the way up to Waterville, then to Skowhegan, Madison, Anson and to New Portland.

I told them that it’s much shorter to get off on Exit 12 and take Route 4 to Farmington and Route 27 to New Portland. Their answer was yes, 15 miles shorter, but 20 minutes longer. Why?

That’s easy, Auburn, the city of red lights. From Exit 12 to East Auburn there are 14 and you can almost bet that you will hit at least 12 red. So while I’m sitting at a red light for one to two minutes, they are motoring at 70 to 75 miles per hour on the interstate.

I guess the city thinks by having all those red lights that the people will stop at restaurants and shopping centers and such, but instead they avoid us altogether. Not only does it hurt business for us, but also Livermore, Jay, Wilton and Farmington. But on the other hand, it does help Waterville, Skowhegan, Madison and Anson.

Come on, city of Auburn, let’s get some of those lights in sync so we can reap the benefits of some out-of-state money traveling by.

Gil Steward, Auburn

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