Plans for a highway widening in Portland, Maine, make little room for pedestrians. (Photo: Rights of Way)This morning on Streetsblog Network, Rights of Way,
a blog in Portland, Maine, writes about how the Maine Department of
Transportation (MDOT) is trying to push through a highway-widening plan
near the city’s scenic Back Cove.
Despite a City Council resolution calling for better pedestrian
facilities in the area, and despite flat traffic levels, MDOT is
promoting a multimillion-dollar road expansion that leaves scant
accommodation for those on foot.
Rights of Way reports:
[The state]’s construction drawings conspicuously omit any
pedestrian safety measures in defiance of local elected officials
and…new federal policies (not to mention basic common sense).The plans would only build a short, 8-foot-wide sidewalk under the
freeway overpasses themselves. This sidewalk wouldn’t be connected to
the Back Cove Trail or the Marginal Way sidewalk. Quite the opposite:
MDOT is actually going to spend a few thousand taxpayer dollars on not
one but two chain-link fences to prevent anyone from using the sidewalk
(at least until volunteers from the neighborhood “repair” the fences
themselves).This sidewalk would not have any lighting. It would be a narrow,
dark alley squeezed next to speeding freeway traffic. Remember, they’re
calling this a “safety improvement”MDOT is also refusing to build any crosswalks between the Park and
Ride lot and adjacent sidewalks on the other side of Franklin Street
and Marginal Way.
I used to live in Portland, and this area is one of the city’s great
missed opportunities, a place where the spectacular waterfront should
be a focus of recreation, but where the highway has dominated for too
long. The idea that the situation could get worse instead of better —
at a time when so many municipalities are improving waterfront access
and recognizing the destructive nature of waterfront roadways — is
downright depressing.
The League of Young Voters is asking Mainers to call the governor and demand a change in the plans. We’ll keep an eye on this one.
More from around the network: Cyclelicious has a poll on whether reflective clothing should be mandatory for nighttime cyclists. Human Transit has a comprehensive post on cul-de-sacs and their impact on the number of miles people drive. And Seattle Transit Blog has a post on Mayor Mike McGinn’s new “Walk. Bike. Ride” campaign.
