State Route 196 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maine. It connects Lewiston to Brunswick, following the valley of the Androscoggin River. ME 196 begins at a junction with US Route 1, which is a recent re-alignment change (previously it was aligned with US 201). This new alignment is called the Brunswick-Topsham bypass and the first leg of the route is a limited access four lane undivided highway. Signs on I-295 refer to this portion as the Coastal Connector to avoid using the term bypass, as it was feared doing so would drive too much traffic from Downtown Brunswick businesses. It eventually reverts to a surface street (and major arterial) through Topsham but does provide a more direct route for travelers on US 1 to access I-295 without having to go through Brunswick. It then intersects with US 201 in Topsham (Main St.) and finally crosses I-295 where it has an interchange. It continues west and passes through Lisbon Falls, Lisbon, and then passed over the Maine Turnpike (I-95) where it has an interchange and enters the city of Lewiston. It is known as Lisbon St. in Lewiston (Maine's second largest city) and for its last segment before it ends is a divided 4 lane city street with westbound traffic on Lisbon St. and eastbound traffic on Canal St. It ends at Main St. which is multiplexed at this point as US 202, ME 11, and ME 100 in downtown Lewiston. For most of its length (except the beginning on the Brunswick-Topsham Bypass and segments through Topsham and Lewiston) it is a two lane highway.
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each morning boatloads of hands
pushed off for granite
quarries on the islands.”
—Robert Lowell (1917–1977)
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
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—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)