When we first heard it we laughed out loud: The Maine Turnpike on a historic register? You’ve got to be kidding.

Well, the person who told us wasn’t, and Turnpike Public Affairs Manager Dan Paradee confirmed it Thursday. A Federal Transit Administration committee went looking for significant stretches of the interstate highway system and Maine’s Turnpike ended up on the list.

Perhaps somebody in Washington has too much time on their hands.

First, the Maine Turnpike people don’t want to be on the list and are actively seeking to have the roadway removed from it. They are afraid it will complicate applying for permits for major projects or getting funds for interchanges and widening projects.

More than that, it’s just hard to get rhapsodic about a four-lane highway no matter how hard you try. Yes, we know about the romance of the open road, but most turnpikes, including our own, are about as historically distinguished as tract housing.

Sure, there are well-known, even historic road ways. We’re thinking the Blue Ridge Parkway or the old Route 66.

The Maine Turnpike is what it was designed to be: a straight, smooth, fast highway. It serves its purpose admirably. But it hardly lifts the spirits like Lewiston’s Saints Peter and Paul Basilica or the Portland Headlight.

There are plenty of places and buildings worthy of historic preservation in Maine. But the Turnpike isn’t one of them.