Turnpike Will Slow Traffic with Pace Trucks

The Maine Turnpike Authority will use pacer vehicles to help slow traffic through construction zones this year. The specially marked trucks will debut this month when contractors resume the five-year turnpike widening project in York County. They’ll drive side by side through construction areas at 50 mph, forcing would-be speeders to follow at a safe speed. The unorthodox solution, combined with a doubling of police patrols, new electronic signs and other measures, is the latest and most serious attempt to protect motorists and the workers who operate equipment within several feet of the travel lanes.