What Makes Brunswick's Route 1 Sign So Confusing For Drivers?

Let me rephrase that headline: A driver is confused by this sign in Brunswick, Maine. Follow along with me on this one.

Post In Facebook Group

Google Maps

A gentleman posted a photo of a sign that looked like the one above. I've used Google Maps to demonstrate the confusion.

This is simply a sign for Route 1, but I have to give it to this gentleman a bit, because it does look a bit confusing if you don't understand the message the sign is trying to convey.

Here's what the gentleman posted in the Facebook group that I happened to wander into:

As you are approaching Brunswick from the highway you pass through this tangle of roads with a most strange sign. It seems that, according to this sign, you are going both North and South at the same time.

What makes this even more strange it that that stretch of road is going approximately East-West.

Puzzling.

It's actually not all that puzzling.

It Might Be More Puzzling if It Looked Like This

Google Maps/Canva

Through a little image manipulation, I removed the right and left lane signs, just to make my point.

Google Maps

What this gentleman didn't understand is that if you want to travel North on Route 1, you stay in the left lane. If you want to travel south on Route 1, you use the right lane. It's kind of obvious, but I can understand his confusion, especially when you are travelling on a road with both a north and south sign.

I get it, though. I struggle sometimes myself trying to understand exactly what some road signs in Maine are trying to tell me. I hope this helps clear up this gentleman's confusion.